NEWS

[10.27.05]
THE WORLD CAR UPDATE

CFR recently finished shooting the cooling system supply chain for the Dodge Ram truck, for the upcoming documentary The World Car: Globalization and the Automobile. For the cooling system alone, CFR visited two Tier 3 suppliers for the radiator cap in England--Precision Cut Rubber in Corsham and Berck Limited in West Bromwich. They make the rubber seals and the stamped metal valves, respectively, for the radiator caps in India.

CFR producer Ty Turley filmed at the Sundram Fasteners plant in Chennai, India, where they make radiator caps for GM North America, Ford Asia, and various DaimlerChrysler models including the Ram. Finally, a CFR crew visited Tier 1 supplier Modine in Clinton, Tennessee where radiators, condensers, power steering unit coolers, and transmission coolers are packaged together and sent to Ram plants in St. Louis, Missouri, Warren, Michigan, and Saltillo, Mexico.

CFR is currently talking with various OEMs and suppliers to identify other relevant supply chains. We anticipate filming in Mexico, Hong Kong, New York and Canada in the coming months.


[10.01.2005]
MASSES TO MASSES TO SCREEN IN HAWAII JANUARY 2006


[09.11.2005]
MASSES TO MASSES VIDEO AND ART EXHIBIT TO SHOW AT THE SPRINGFIELD MUSEUM OF ART
From September 11th to October 16 Combat Films will exhibit the Social-Realist collection Masses to Masses at the Springfield Museum of Art in Springfield, Utah. There will also be held the premier screening of the CFR documentary Masses to Masses on Wednesday, September 21st at 6:30 pm.


[08.30.2005]
THE WORLD CAR: GLOBALIZATION AND THE AUTOMOBILE
CFR is currently in pre-production on its new film The World Car: Globalization and the Automobile. The film will be a one-off special for the Beyond The Border series, a co-production with the David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies at Brigham Young University.

Associate Professor Kristie Seawright of the Marriot School of Management at Brigham Young University will serve as academic advisor. Her experience studying global supply chains and her on the ground research in various countries makes her a perfect partner.

The World Car is scheduled to premier on PBS affiliate KBYU in summer 2006 and subsequently on national PBS. The David M. Kennedy Center is considering a related symposium and relevant publication in its Bridges magazine.

Ty Turley is associate producer and chief researcher for the film. He is currently working with Kristie Seawright and Dodge Billingsley to develop the storyline. Award winning Producer/Director Dodge Billingsley will act as director. He is currently in China conducting field research for the film.

Stay tuned for more details—and for more information visit our series site at www.beyondtheborder.org


[08.05.2005]
COMBAT FILMS RESEARCHER TY TURLEY LEAVES FOR INDIA


[07.27.2005]
COMBAT FILMS DIRECTOR DODGE BILLINGSLEY RETURNS FROM CHINA


[05.01.2005]
BEYOND THE BORDER ANNOUNCES GLOBALIZATION: WORLD CAR (WORKING TITLE) PROJECT FOR 2006


[00.00.2005]
CHECHNYA: SEPARATISM OR JIHAD? AND FAULT-LINES AND PIPELINES SCREEN AT THE
UNIVERSITY OF UTAH


[03.01.2005]
BEYOND THE BORDER SERIES 2 TO AIR SPRING 2005

Combat Films & Research (CFR) and Brigham Young University’s David M. Kennedy Center of International Studies announce a second run of last fall’s Beyond the Border series. Two new films are included in this year’s line-up. The first, Chechnya: Separatism or Jihad?, examines four spectacular hostage-taking raids into Russia to explain the role of Islam and foreign mujahadeen in the evolution and escalation of militant Chechen tactics over the past decade—and ask the question; has militant Islam hijacked the Chechen independence movement? The second film, Launch Pads to Lily Pads, explores the U.S. military’s struggle to adapt its force posture to meet new perceived threats inherent to an expanded American security perimeter. At the heart of the ongoing transformation is a debate regarding what EUCOM’s role should be beyond Western Europe—primarily Africa and the territories of the former Soviet Union.

The second series run of five films will also include extended versions of the films Masses To Masses and Fog and Friction.


[04.01.2005]
CFR ATTENDS 10TH ANNUAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF NATIONALITIES CONFERENCE
(ASN) IN NYC

CFR Director Dodge Billingsley and Producer Shane Seggar attended the 10th Annual ASN Conference in NYC this week, "Understanding Nationalism: Identity, Empire, Conflict". Screened at the conference were the films Fault-lines and Pipe Lines, Chechnya: Separatism or Jihad? and Ukraine Sonata.


[09.09.2004]
BEYOND THE BORDER FILM SERIES TO DEBUT ON PBS AFFILIATE KBYU
BEGGINING SEPTEMBER 22, 2004

Covering war, geography, politics, history, and current affairs, Beyond the Border, a collection of five films, will begin airing on Wednesday, September 22 at 9:00 p.m. Produced by Combat Films and Research for the Kennedy Center, the series will examine events, trends, and stories from around the world with an emphasis on international relations.

"In the complex realm of international affairs, there are untold stories that can help us gain a greater understanding of our world," said Jeff Ringer, Kennedy Center director and creator of the program concept. "Through this series, we hope to provide an alternative perspective on forces, ideas, and facts that are beyond the border of our common experience."

The idea for the series sprung from part of the focus of the Kennedy Center."One of our responsibilities is to research, support, and create outreach products-ways we can reach out to the community and inform them about international affairs," Ringer explained. "We've been doing a nice job with lectures and conferences, but those will only go so far; we wanted to push a little further and that's when we teamed up with Dodge to do this series."

Dodge Billingsley, of Combat Films and Research, is a seasoned producer and former defense analyst who has documented war zones and trouble spots worldwide.

Originally specializing in the Caucasus and Central Asia, Billingsley traveled into war-torn Chechnya to produce Immortal Fortress: An Inside Look at Chechnya's Warrior Culture in 1996. While there, he gained rare interviews with a number of notable Chechen warlords, including the notorious Shamil Basayev.

That, and subsequent trips, have taken him throughout the Middle East and Central Asia. The Beyond the Border series of four, half-hour segments and one, full-hour segment begins with Fog and Friction, three separate battles from Iraq and Afghanistan illustrating that war is a complicated business. This is a glimpse into the decision-making process at the height of battle, and the consequences of those decisions.

Abu Dhabi's IDEX arms fair is the scene for the Arms Bazaar. The conventional arms market is a multibillion dollar industry where shopping ranges from small arms to tanks, to cruise missiles and fighter aircraft-as simple as buying groceries at the market. "We think that the Arms Bazaar will be very interesting, because it's something people don't know a whole lot about and so it's a chance to introduce people to this strange thing that happens," reported Ringer. "It's very common in the Middle East and all over the world, but we just don't talk about it very much." In the midst of China's Cultural Revolution, five artists led by Jin Zher Lin were sent to China's revolutionary capital Yan'an and instructed to paint together. From the Masses to the Masses, Revolutionary Art of Yan'an details their seven-year odyssey capturing the life and history of the revolutionary capital on oil, watercolor, and wood block print-art that was discovered three decades later. As the shadow of Soviet control slipped away from the former satellite states many stepped forward and declared their independence. Ukraine Sonata looks at the years before, during, and after the Soviet Union's great Perestroika and how the Independent Republic of Ukraine is negotiating the changes on a musical level, reflecting the conflict between repression and choice. The beautiful and historic Caucasus Mountains are home to three major conflicts in the former Soviet Union: Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia, and Chechnya, and multiple minor struggles. Intertwined in this convoluted political and geographic landscape is a significant portion of the world's known oil reserves-the subject of Faultlines and Pipelines.Beyond the Border will conclude with a one-hour roundtable discussion moderated by Ringer and feature Billingsley, Eric Hyer, a professor of political science at BYU and Laura Rauch, an AP photographer who has covered many international topics including the war in Iraq.

Airing Wednesdays on these scheduled dates:

22 September
Fog and Friction 9:00-9:30 p.m.
The Arms Bazaar 9:30-10:00 p.m.

29 September
From the Masses to the Masses, Revolutionary Art of Yan'an 9:00-9:30 p.m.
Ukraine Sonata 9:30-10:00 p.m.

6 October
Faultlines and Pipelines 9:00-10:00 p.m.

13 October
Roundtable Discussion 9:00-10:00 p.m.

Series producer Billingsley was one of the few Western observers to the fall 2001 fortress uprising at Mazar-i Sharif, Afghanistan, in which CIA agent Mike Spann was killed and American Taliban John Walker Lindh was taken into U.S. custody.

Only months later Billingsley was again in action in Afghanistan, this time accompanying U.S. troops into battle during Operation Anaconda. He has made multiple forays into Iraq filming with regular troops and Special Forces and reporting back to U.S. television networks, including CNN.

Billingsley received a BS from Columbia University and a master's degree in war studies from King's College in London. For updates, see the Kennedy Center news and calendar online at http://kennedy.byu.edu or for more information contact cory_leonard@byu.edu. See Combat films and Research online at http://www.combatfilms.com.