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American Umpire: Trailer and Press Release

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10.10.2016 at 01:18pm

A Critical Exploration of America’s Role as the Policeman in a Globalized World

AMERICAN UMPIRE

A film by James Shelley and Elizabeth Cobbs Airing on Public Broadcasting Stations Nationwide Fall 2016.

Check local listings.

American Umpire – Trailer from Shell Studios, LLC on Vimeo.

We are on the cusp of a change in the way we do foreign policy in this country. The major threat in the world today is terrorism, not land wars between great powers. Yet the world’s security infrastructure continues to be based largely on conditions that prevailed during the Cold War.

AMERICAN UMPIRE is a 56-minute documentary narrated by former anchor of PBS NewsHour Jim Lehrer. Airing on public broadcasting stations this fall it takes a critical look at America’s role as the world’s policeman. AMERICAN UMPIRE explores our origins as a neutral republic and our transition to a highly engaged superpower after World War II.

The United States has struggled to afford its multiple conflicts and long-term occupations—and make them effective. AMERICAN UMPIRE is a primer for viewers interested in learning how America shifted away from a 150-year policy of neutrality in its formative years to a 70-year policy of global engagement. It may surprise them to learn that since 1947 no other nation has been involved in as many foreign conflicts as the United States. The film contains voices from across the entire spectrum of the debate, from former Secretary of State George Shultz, who thinks “if the US steps back from the role it’s played since WWII, the world will come apart at the seams”, to academics like Barry Posen of MIT, who thinks America must devise a profoundly new framework of “restraint” and demand that allies do more.

“AMERICAN UMPIRE seeks to open up a national discussion about the foreign policy of the United States in an important election year,” says director and producer Jim Shelley. “More than anyone, presidents decide foreign policy and define our national vision,” adds Professor Elizabeth Cobbs, writer and producer, who is also interviewed for the film.

Through a series of outstanding interviews with prominent policy makers, scholars, military leaders, and journalists, AMERICAN UMPIRE explores possible policy options for the future. It offers a balanced view and an alternative to the partisan hyperbole of the 24-hour news cycle and social media free-for-all that paints foreign policy choices in black and white as either irresponsible isolationism or war-mongering engagement.

American Umpire is a production of Shell Studios in association with WETA, Washington D.C. and is distributed by American Public Television.

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