John Podesta and The Center for American Progress invite you to a special screening of the new film from SenArt Films and Scranton/Lacy Films:
In March 2004, several members of the New Hampshire National Guard unit arrived in Iraq carrying digital video cameras that they had been trained to use before leaving their homes. The War Tapes, winner of the Best International Documentary Competition at this year's Tribeca Film Festival, is the movie they made with Director Deborah Scranton and a team of award-winning filmmakers. It's the first war movie filmed by soldiers themselves on the front lines in Iraq.
According to Stephen Holden of The New York Times, "Their riveting videotapes and accompanying commentary, sometimes shouted while under fire, gives a stronger taste of the Iraq war experience than any film I can remember. Once encountered, you will never forget these three - Sgt. Steve Pink, Sgt. Zack Bazzi and Specialist Mike Moriarty - or their loved ones. They are the bedrock of who we are as a nation." John Burns, The New York Times Baghdad Bureau Chief and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, says The War Tapes is the "single best documentary" about the Iraq war.
Please join us for a Q&A session and reception immediately following the film.
Video
2 screenings:
Wednesday, May 31st, 2006 and Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Doors open at 6:30 PM. Screening starts at 7:00 PM sharp
Admission is free
Landmark E Street Cinema
555 11th Street NW
Washington, DC 20004
Featured Panelists:
P.J. Crowley, Senior Fellow, Director of National Defense and Homeland Security, Center for American Progress
Steve James, Editor/Producer, The War Tapes
Staff Sergeant Zack Bazzi, New Hampshire Army National Guard
Sergeant Patrick Campbell, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America
Moderated by:
Melody Barnes, Executive Vice President for Policy, Center for American Progress
Wednesday, May 31st, 2006 Doors open at 6:30 PM. Screening starts at 7:00 PM sharp Admission is free Reception to follow
Tribeca Grand Hotel
2 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10013
Phone 212 519 6666
Map and Directions
Featured Panelists:
Lawrence J. Korb, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress
Deborah Scranton, Director, The War Tapes
Sergeant Steve Pink
Sergeant Zack Bazzi
Specialist Mike Moriarty
Moderated by:
John Podesta, President and Chief Executive Officer, Center for American Progress
Biographies
Philip J. (P.J.) Crowley is a Senior Fellow and Director of National Defense and Homeland Security at the Center for American Progress. During the Clinton administration, Crowley was Special Assistant to the President of the United States for National Security Affairs, serving as Senior Director of Public Affairs for the National Security Council. Prior to that, he was Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs. In all, Crowley was a spokesman for the United States government and United States military for 28 years, 11 of those years at the Pentagon and three at the White House. He served for 26 years in the United States Air Force, retiring at the rank of colonel in September 1999. He is a veteran of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. During the Kosovo conflict, he was temporarily assigned to work with then NATO Secretary General Javier Solana. Prior to joining American Progress, he served as a national spokesman for the property/casualty insurance industry, focusing on strategic industry issues that included the impact of terrorism on commercial insurance in the aftermath of the World Trade Center tragedy and to the effect of asbestos litigation on the broader economy. A native of Massachusetts, P.J. is a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross and an avid Red Sox fan and golfer. He is married to Paula E. Kougeas, also a retired Air Force colonel and now a teacher. They live in Alexandria, Virginia with their children, Mary and Christopher.
Steve James is the award-winning director, producer, and co-editor of Hoop Dreams, which won every major documentary prize in 1995, including the Peabody and Kennedy Journalism Awards. Recently, Hoop Dreams was named to the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry, signifying its enduring importance to the history of American film. James’ next documentary, Stevie, won major festival awards at Sundance, Amsterdam, Yamagata and Philadelphia, was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award and landed on more than a dozen “Top Ten Films of the Year” lists for 2003. James was also an executive producer, story director, and co-editor of highly acclaimed PBS series, The New Americans, winner of two Chicago International Television Festival Golden Hugos, a Christopher Award, and the prestigious 2004 International Documentary Association Award for Best Limited Series for Television. James’ dramatic films include the feature Prefontaine, which premiered at Sundance, the TNT movie, Passing Glory (1999), and Joe and Max (2002), which premiered on Starz and was nominated for an ESPN Espy Award. James’s newest documentary is Reel Paradise, on former "indie film guru" John Pierson, who took his family to Fiji for a year to run the world’s most remote movie theater. Reel Paradise was James fourth film to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.
Staff Sergeant Zack Bazzi is a Lebanese-born American who escaped from the Lebanon Civil War with his family at age 8. Bazzi joined the military to travel and see the world, and has been deployed overseas twice before – in Bosnia and Kosovo with the 101st Airborne. Bazzi is currently a second semester senior at the University of New Hampshire, pursuing a dual major in Psychology and International Affairs. Recently, Zack was promoted to Staff Sergeant with Charlie Company in the New Hampshire National Guard. He plans to spend the summer in New York City interning with IAVA (Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America), a veteran organization headed by Paul Rieckhoff (Chasing Ghosts), and also hopes to make time for travel in Europe or Africa.
Sergeant Patrick Campbell is a combat medic serving with the Washington, DC National Guard. He returned from Iraq in October 2005 after one year of service in Baghdad with the 256 Infantry Brigade, based out of Louisiana. He was assigned to regularly patrol the western region of Baghdad. He was awarded the Combat Medical Badge and the Meritorious Service Medal. While overseas, he was labeled as a prominent blogger by MSNBC. Patrick is currently a full time law student at the Catholic University of America and is also staffing the Washington, DC office of IAVA. He has worked for 4 different United States Senators, the former Vice President of the United States, and various local and federal campaigns. He received his undergraduate degree in Political Science at UC Berkeley, where he served as the Student Body President.
Melody Barnes is the Executive Vice President for Policy at the Center for American Progress where she coordinates and helps to integrate all of the Center’s policy work, from the policy departments, fellows, and the Center's network of outside policy experts. From December 1995 until March 2003, Ms. Barnes served as chief counsel to Senator Edward M. Kennedy on the Senate Judiciary Committee. As Senator Kennedy’s chief counsel, she shaped civil rights, women’s health and reproductive rights, commercial law, and religious liberties laws, as well as executive branch and judicial appointments. Ms. Barnes’ experience also includes an appointment as Director of Legislative Affairs for the U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and serving as assistant counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights. During her tenure with the Subcommittee, she worked closely with Members of Congress and their staffs to pass the Voting Rights Improvement Act of 1992, which was signed into law. Ms. Barnes began her career as an attorney with Shearman & Sterling in New York City and is a member of both the New York State Bar Association and the District of Columbia Bar Association. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of The Constitution Project, EMILY’s List, The Maya Angelou Public Charter School, and The Moriah Fund. She received her law degree from the University of Michigan and her bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she graduated with honors in history.
Site-Wide and Issue-Specific RSS Feeds