In this Veterans Breakfast Club livestream, we sit down with filmmaker Steven Grayhm to talk about Sheepdog, an independent feature film that takes a hard, honest look at combat trauma, recovery, and the long road home. Grayhm not only stars in the film, but also wrote, produced, and directed it—an unusual level of authorship that reflects how personal the project is.
Sheepdog centers on Calvin Cole (Grayhm), a decorated U.S. Army combat veteran who is court-ordered into treatment and placed under the care of a VA trauma therapist-in-training (played by Madsen), who is juggling her clinical work with night shifts at a diner to pay for school. Calvin’s fragile attempt to hold himself together is further tested when his father-in-law, a retired Vietnam veteran (Curtis Hall), appears at his door fresh out of prison. As Calvin’s instinct to run from his past collapses, the film traces how accountability, compassion, and hard-earned trust can open a path toward healing.
Shot on location in Western Massachusetts, Sheepdog aims to lift the veil on post-traumatic stress and the veteran suicide crisis, while also focusing on the often-overlooked idea of post-traumatic growth. Rather than offering easy answers, the film shows the physical and psychological consequences of trauma—and the slow, uneven work of recovery—through grounded performances and lived-in settings. Film critic Tony Toscana called it “one of the best films of the year.”
We’ll ask Grayhm about how Sheepdog came to be: years spent listening to veterans’ stories, studying trauma and VA treatment models, and working closely with veterans and clinicians to get the details right. He’ll reflect on why he felt compelled to tell this story himself, why authenticity matters more than spectacle, and what it takes to bring an independently made, veteran-centered film from script to screen.
This livestream will explore the making of Sheepdog, the responsibilities of telling veterans’ stories on film, and what cinema can—and cannot—do when it comes to understanding trauma, recovery, and the complicated work of coming home.
We’re grateful to UPMC for Life for sponsoring this event!
