Who Killed Lt. Van Dorn?

The married father of two young sons with a degree from the United States Naval Academy, 29-year-old Navy Lt. Wes Van Dorn died when the helicopter he was piloting crashed off the coast of Virginia Beach, VA, during a 2014 training exercise. Motivated by her grief, his wife Nicole seeks an explanation for the cause of the disaster. Her efforts spur a local reporter’s investigation, which uncovers a long history of negligence and institutional failings around the MH-53 helicopter - the model Van Dorn was piloting when he was killed, and among the deadliest aircraft in the US military fleet. Through incisive reporting and interviews with Van Dorn’s colleagues and family, Who Killed Lt. Van Dorn? is at once a poignant picture of one family's tragedy and a revelatory inquiry into the murky inner-workings of the American defense establishment. (Mill Valley Film Festival)