For the world premiere of “Warfare,” the directorial debut of Navy SEAL veteran Ray Mendoza, who worked as a military advisor on “Civil War” with co-writer and director Alex Garland, A24 hosted an audience different from the usual industry set. 

Given how the film is based on a real-life mission Mendoza survived during the Iraq War, on Wednesday night, the Hollywood American Legion Theater in L.A. was mostly comprised of an appropriate audience: fellow veterans and members of the military community, with representation from partners including Veterans In Media And Entertainment, Navy Seal Foundation, Warrior Heritage Foundation, Team Rubicon, Team RWB, Writers Guild Foundation – Veterans Writing Program, Screen Actors Guild Veterans Committee, the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Space Force.

So when the post-screening Q&A for the intense war chronicle began, much of the conversation was about memory and honesty. “It was based on memory. We had a handful of photographs that we got of the building, but aside from that, it was just interviews and it began with Ray and I sitting for a week and Ray just unloading everything he could remember. And then we spoke to as many people as we could,” said Garland of how “Warfare” came to be. “These guys opened up, never tried to make themselves look good, never tried to self-aggrandize, really dug it into themselves to try and say what really happened and what the truth was.”

The filmmakers were joined on stage by stars Charles Melton and D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, as well as U.S. Army Infantry Jeff Craft, U.S. Navy SEAL Joe Hildebrand, and U.S. Navy SEAL Elliott Miller, who were all present for the event the film depicts, with the latter being who “Warfare” is dedicated to. “For Ray to direct a movie and not embellish his character is unbelievable. That is a true quiet, professional SEAL and it’s remarkable,” said Hildebrand.

Mendoza, who began his film career while still on active duty, appearing in the film “Act of Valor” and working behind the scenes on “Lone Survivor,” wanted to begin directing as a way to better communicate thoughts and memories about his experience in the Navy. “When I first got out of the military, there was a lot going on with this event, and I didn’t understand how to describe it. I didn’t have the vocabulary of the verbiage to convey it. I had to first understand what was physically going on and then just kind emotionally, spiritually, trying to figure out how to communicate,” he said.

Even before he knew the pathway toward becoming a director, Mendoza thought, “Maybe I could start telling stories from our perspective through our lens, and this story with Elliot was always on my mind.”

He added, “As I started to learn more about filmmaking and how you can really just take, even if you take five seconds in time, you can even stretch that five seconds in time out and give it to the specifics of it, the texture of it.” Mendoza said “Every aspect of this film, even if you were to watch this film again, every snap, every round has a focus. I just didn’t just throw it in there just like, ‘Oh, that fucking sounds cool.’ So when there’s a snap, it’s very directional. So when you see somebody move, shift their gun, it’s motivated by something. … It’s why I wanted to learn from different facets of filmmaking. One day I wanted to do my own film, and also be responsible for all these things, those elements to convey those little things so that it can be a voice for somebody.”

Working with Mendoza on “Civil War” and now “Warfare,” Garland said, “He’s an incredible teacher. One of the things I saw while we were making this was him teaching these guys and the others how to do their job. Not just how to handle weapons, but how to act, how to inhabit something. And it was really fascinating.”

He describes “Warfare,” his collaboration with Mendoza, as “the product of honesty,” adding, “That’s why it represents something in the way it does is, because it’s unfiltered and it’s unflinching and it’s just truthful. And that’s him.”

A24 will release “Warfare” in theaters on Friday, April 21.