September 29, 2009
For Immediate Release

For more information: Danny Damron (801) 863-8703
University Marketing & Communications: Erin Spurgeon, (801) 863-6807
Written by: Marianna Henry (801) 863-8306

Award-winning documentary filmmaker Dodge Billingsley will present at Utah Valley University’s Global Spotlight: South Asia at 1 p.m. Monday, Oct. 5 in the UVU Library Auditorium. Billingsley’s lecture, “Pakistan: Partner or Pariah,” will address the U.S.-Pakistan relationship in fighting terrorism.

“Dodge brings a wealth of firsthand experience in Pakistan, Afghanistan and with the U.S. military,” said Danny Damron, UVU International Center director. “Lecture attendees will come away from this lecture with a better understanding of the complexities of combating terrorism in Pakistan and South Asia.”

Billingsley founded Combat Films and Research in 1997 after covering war for years. He has since continued researching and documenting several regions of South and Southwest Asia. His films have been shown on CNN, Discovery Channel, Military Channel, The History Channel, The Learning Channel and PBS.

In 2003, Billingsley was a finalist for the prestigious Rory Peck Award for Best Feature, for his film “Virgin Soldiers,” which follows a squad of Marines from their base in southern California to the end of combat operations in Baghdad.

In 2002, he won the Rory Peck Award and the Royal Television Society Award, both for Best Feature, for the film “House of War,” which documented the battle for Qala Jangi fortress in Afghanistan. Billingsley was one of only a few foreigners on hand at the prisoner revolt that took the life of CIA agent Mike Spann and introduced the world to John Walker Lindh — better known as “the American Taliban.”

Billingsley is a past recipient of the MacArthur Foundation’s Regional Security Travel Grant and is a frequent contributor to various defense and security-related journals. He received a bachelor’s degree in history from Columbia University and master’s degree in war studies from King’s College Department of War Studies in London.

###