January 25, 2008
 WHERE: Temple University Ambler,
580 Meetinghouse Road, Learning Center Auditorium
WHEN: Tuesday, January 29, 7 p.m.
March 2008 will mark the fifth anniversary of the beginning of the war in Iraq. While the nation’s economy might be taking center stage in the concerns of many Americans, during this election year, the war remains a divisive issue while well over 100,000 troops continue to serve in Iraq.
On Tuesday, January 29, documentary filmmaker Mike Shiley will present and discuss his award-winning film “Inside Iraq: The Untold Stories,” a “hard-hitting, unflinching look” at the ongoing conflict. The program, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 7 p.m., in the Learning Center Auditorium.
Inside Iraq: The Untold Story presents a “film, discussion, and solution” by filmmaker Mike Shiley. In his New York Times Critic’s Pick and four-time film festival winner, Shiley risks his life to present a unique story of the war in Iraq.
“For our students and, I think, many families in the region, the war in Iraq isn’t simply a news story. Many of them have family and friends serving overseas — the fears and concerns are very vivid, very real,” said Dr. Wanda Lewis-Campbell, Assistant Dean for Student Life. “This film presents a close-up look at what is happening on the ground, not the decisions being made in Washington — it focuses on the men and women that are fighting this war and the citizens living in Iraq today. No matter where you stand on the war, I think it is important as we enter the fifth year of the conflict to examine what has brought us to this point and where we go from here in the future.”
In December 2003. Shiley struck a deal with a local ABC-TV station to bring back stories about the troops in Iraq. Armed with a digital video camera and a home-made press pass, he chronicled a two-month journey inside Iraq, interviewing American and Iraqi soldiers, talking to local citizens, “and putting himself in situations of great personal risk.”
According to the Contemporary Issues Agency, which represents Shiley, the filmmaker, rather than pushing a political agenda, “let’s the cameras roll. We are shown Iraq as we’ve never seen it before, getting a raw look at what it’s like to be a soldier and a civilian in Iraq today.”
Shiley, producer/director of Shidog Films, is a photographer, filmmaker, and freelance journalist. He has recently returned from two months in Iraq, developing exclusive stories for ABC World News Tonight, Nightline, and Good Morning America as well as ABC-TV affiliates in Oregon, Colorado, and Florida, international humanitarian aid groups, and a variety of online news services.
Inside Iraq: The Untold Stories is a 90-minute documentary that highlights the challenges, opportunities and lives of the Iraqi people and the U.S. soldiers stationed there. Shiley traveled extensively throughout Iraq from the Kurdish-controlled region in the north, through the “Sunni Triangle” in central Iraq, and to Shiite-controlled cities in the south. He visited impoverished villages with Western medical teams, “went on night patrols along the Syrian border in a tank squadron, flew in a Blackhawk helicopter, and walked the streets of Baghdad uncovering the lives of the Iraqi people.”
In addition to being a filmmaker, Shiley has worked as a freelance photographer for CNN covering the war in Sarajevo, trekked to Everest Base Camp in Nepal, and completed a 3,000 mile solo bicycle trip from British Columbia, Canada to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
For more information on Inside Iraq: The Untold Story at Temple University Ambler, contact the Office of Student Life at 267-468-8425.
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