TV Personality & Producer-Director Phil Donahue to Present "Body of War" during the first Mark Shafer Memorial Lecture

From the start, Phil Donahue changed the face of American daytime television, pioneering the audience-participation talk format as the host of the Donahue show, a 29-year run which stands as the longest of its kind in U.S. television history.  He also hosted a talk show on MSNBC from July 2002  to March 2003; despite his being that network's most popular host, he was dismissed by NBC executives for his forthright opposition to the U.S. invasion of Iraq.  Since then he has written, produced, and directed signifigant film and video projects such as Body of War.  His contribution to TV journalism and entertainment has earned him 20 Emmy Awards - 9 as host and 11 for the show - as well as the George Foster Peabody Award; the President's Award from the National Women's Political Caucus; the first Media Person of the Year Award from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance; and induction into the Academy of Television's Hall of Fame.  Along with his TV and film work, Donahue is an admired writer whose essays and opinion columns have appeared in The New Tork Times, The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times. He is also the author of the best selling memoir, Donahue: My Own Story; and The Human Animal.

 Directed and produced by Donahue and Ellen Spiro, with a sound track by Eddie Vedder, Body of War follows the path of 25-year-old Tomas Young, an Iraq war veteran turned activist who was injured in the line of duty during his first week of combat.  Senatorial speeches in the build-up to the invasion are intersliced with segments chronicling Young's journey from the days prior to his enlistment to his struggles confronting the daily realities of his postwar life, as he gradually finds his voice to speak out against the forces that sent him to war.  Using the parallel imagery in unprecedented ways, the film juxtaposes the sanitized vantage point of Washington with raw personal experience that exposes the true motives, methods, and costs of war.

Hailed by critics as "almost unbearably moving" (Time Magazine) and "emotionally ravaging"...a ferocious film" (The Washington Post), Body of War played to thunderous ovations accross the country, winning (among others) the Best Documentary award from the Nation Board of Review; the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at Michael Moore's Traverse City Film Festival; and a People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The evnt will begin promptly at 7 pm and feature a screening of Donahue's full-lenght film. Uponm its completion Phil Donahue will lead a discussion with the audience.  This event is free of charge abd free parking is available.