A house fire in 1989 set Andrew Carroll on a 30-year mission to save war letters from attics and basements across America. Now his story is getting the documentary treatment, and it’s loaded with A-list talent.

“Behind the Lines” drops October 22nd on Amazon, Apple+, and YouTube. The 88-minute film is narrated by four-time Oscar nominee Annette Bening, with letter readings from Laura Dern, Michael C. Hall, Gary Cole, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Paul Walter Hauser, DeWanda Wise, and Common.

Director John B. Benitz, a Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize recipient, follows Carroll’s journey through all 50 states and 40 countries, including war zones in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Ukraine. Carroll’s collected over 250,000 war-related letters and emails spanning every U.S. conflict.

The letters themselves are the real stars. A Black Union soldier threatening his former master. A Pearl Harbor sailor describing the attack from inside a sinking ship. A Vietnam vet confessing he’d killed someone. A 9/11 survivor’s handwritten account from Ground Zero.

The release coincides with Carroll’s new campaign, Operation Post War, focused on preserving correspondence from post-9/11 troops and veterans.

For indie docs tackling big subjects, this is how you do it: find the human story, then get out of the way and let the voices speak.