Phil Grabsky's Blog - Friday 18th November

Friday 18 November 2011.

3am, Koln. Can’t sleep. My body clock is upside down. I’m listening for the millionth time to my CD of Haydn’s Keyboard Concerto in F Major played by Ronald Brautigam. I almost can’t believe I am almost through this long-planned series of screenings of The Boy Mir. It began almost two weeks ago with a screening at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC. That was at the invitation of a South Asian event (Annual South Asian Literary and Theatre Arts festival) which was very impressive and comprised two days of performance – beginning with a screening of The Boy Mir. The Natural History Museum (of Night at the Museum fame) was the venue. In their excellent cinema, we had a sparely attended but well received showing. It was a real whistle-stop as, after only 30 minutes of Q&A, I had to run for a plane home. I had been flown in on Delta who I have to say were great but they weren’t going to wait for me so it was all at double-quick speed to get on board and home – for the Leonardo Live shoot. I’ve talked about this in another blog so suffice to say once that was done (phew!) it was farewell to my patient and supportive family and back to Heathrow and onto a plane to Washington again. I had asked an excellent PR company (PlanetPix) in New York to organise some BOY MIR screenings for political purposes – to get the film seen by those who make the decisions about billions of dollars and thousands of lives. On a beautiful Autumnal day in DC, we held our first screening at the fancy new building housing the United States Institute of Peace.
In their own words, USIP is our country's global conflict management center. Created by Congress to be independent and nonpartisan, we work to prevent, mitigate and resolve international conflict without resorting to violence. An ideal place to show the film. It is indeed a beautiful new building just near the Lincoln Memorial. The screening was well-attended by aid workers and grant-funders…and USIP ‘experts’ of various types. They seemed to enjoy the film and the subsequent Q&A. Then Planetpix took me downtown to the National Press Club. In their own words: The National Press Club, a private club for journalists and communications professionals, has been a Washington institution for more than a century. It is also a world-class conference and meeting facility that hosts thousands of events each year for sophisticated clients from around the globe. And while these are the Club’s functions, its mission is to be The World’s Leading Professional Organization for Journalists. It is a social and business organization dedicated to supporting the ongoing improvement of the profession of journalism. It’s a great place, actually – with some wonderful, iconographic photos on the walls. Along the corridor are also many world flags and I was very proud that the occasion of my visit was used to present (from the Afghanistan Embassy) an Afghan flag to stand among them. I think Afghan journalists are supremely brave and deserve every recognition. As for my own press conference, it was a bit quiet but I did do a couple of TV interviews – who knows?… It was the eve of a three-day weekend so not the best time, in hindsight, to be asking journalists in. That night, I had a wonderful dinner with the inspiring and, frankly, brilliant head of the Afghanistan section of VOA (Voice of America).
Friday – another lovely day outside but I simply couldn’t break away from trying to whittle down the 200+ emails I had to deal with. I’d like to say I’m a victim of my own success but I’m not sure it’s really that…. I also had to work on the Leonardo Live re-edit. I did make time to walk down with a good buddy of mine to the war memorials including the recently restored First World War memorial. Today was Veterans Day so there was quite a crowd. I was wearing my poppy (as we do in the UK – commemorating the poppy fields in France in which so many men died) and I suddenly burst out laughing: all of yesterday, talking about Mir and Afghanistan, I’d been wearing a poppy ! Most folk here don’t know about our UK tradition so what were they thinking?? That I was an advert for Afghanistan’s no 1 crop?!
That evening, I went to Symphony Hall to see cellist Gautier Capucon. He was fabulous and I stopped by backstage to say hi. His cello piece in IN SEARCH OF HAYDN will, I’m sure, be among many people’s favourites.

Saturday: I worked all morning and then took a lunch break to go to a local cinema to watch The Drive. I don’t know why I do it to myself – it was crass, violent & pointless. If they had given the budget to schoolkids in Afghanistan they’d have done so much more good. In the evening, Planetpix had again done an excellent job of organising a big screening of MIR – this time in a fine cinema at the George Washington University. It was noteworthy for so many Afghans that turned up. Well dressed, handsome, affluent – just as their brothers & sisters in Afghanistan could and should be. For me, a particular treat was sharing the stage with Christina Lamb, one of the best journalists around. If you haven’t read SEWING CIRCLES OF HERAT, you should. Luckily for me, she liked the film. Phew! A lot of positive reaction…but, as so often, very few donations. Website-based donation simply doesn’t work. I keep expecting at least one wealthy person to send in a few thousands dollars but it simply hasn’t happened in all the screenings I have had over the past year…

Sunday – train to NY – had an important meeting with the distributors of LEONARDO LIVE and then made my way to a lovely building overlooking Central Park where I was the guest speaker at a fundraiser for Afghan women. Showed 20 minutes of clips and talked for an hour. Went down very well. Best of all though was the delicious Afghan food – people always laugh when I say one of the reasons I go back is for the food – especially the kebabs … but it’s true.

Monday – Pittsburgh. Oh dear. 11 hours to get there to do a Q&A at a cinema. Travelled up to the cinema and was surprised to arrive at the door and see a poster for me to do the Q&A three days earlier: they got my day wrong! Audience who turned up today – 0! Well, two old dears finally waddled in , hesitated until I told them what a great film it was (they didn’t know I was the director) and they sat all alone in a 300-seater and watched the film. My sense of professionalism did not extend to me sticking around to do a Q&A. I’ll be looking for compensation for that cock-up.

Tuesday and almost at the end of my trek now. As wet and miserable a day as yesterday was gloriously sunny. I gave a talk & screening at the University of Pittsburgh. Some very nice folk who are at their Institute for Human Security. Then a mad dash for the plane home.
Weds- into Sky for the start of the Haydn post production – luckily I have a star post-production editor who can get on with it all alone at the early stage so I could go home. Only to leave 4.30 am next day to Berlin.
Berlin holds such a special place in my heart that I am always so happy to be here. The city always has the same central European air that I remember from my visits as a child. Such a grand, sad, energetic, beautiful city. I’m here because the Franco-German channel ARTE are holding a press screening of MIR. Of all the braodcasters to whom I pre-sold the film, ARTE is actually the biggest coup – and then to get picked for their number one doc slot too is brilliant. And then the fact that they are pushing it makes me even happier. They have hired a wonderful cinema called the Babylon (where, funnily enough, I once came to show ESCAPE FROM LUANDA). I met my ARTE commissioning editor and we hug in relief that we actually managed to win the many fights along the way to get the film through. I won’t bore you with it but, trust me, it was like walking through a field of thorns at times. She has become one of my favourite all-time TV folk – because she believes in the programmes and programme-makers. And, trust me, many don’t. A decent crowd gathers inside – there must be thirty or so people in attendance – a very good turn-out, including the former German ambassador to Pakistan. It’s so easy to put on these events and for them to be ill-attended (well, like the National Press Club in Washington which only saw a handful turn up). The film kicks off on the big screen and it looks great. I make a run for a meeting to do with a classical music project (but that’s another story, folks) and then get back in time for the end of the film and the Q&A. Everyone stays and are very keen to ask questions and listen to the answers. The proof will be in what they eventually write but they seem really approving of the film. I have to add that this is a special moment for me as my sister and her lovely friend who both live in Berlin have come too. I manage to woof down half a bagel before my commissioning editor and I dash to the airport for a 3pm flight to Koln. There I give a talk to a class of film students interested in making political films…’Don’t’ I tell them. ‘make “political films” but tell great stories and let your politics come through the way you tell them, the choices you make, the questions you ask, the shots you frame, the characters you choose”. I find I talk non-stop for 45 minutes – either I’m good at this or have become a bore who likes the sound of my own voice….a bit of both probably! After this we head to the Forum Ludwig – a nice cinema next to the staggeringly impressive cathedral. Their first film ever (five or so years ago) was IN SEARCH OF MOZART (can you believe?!) and so it’s nice to finally visit them. This is a somewhat unofficial screening for WDR (the German channel that is showing the film six months after ARTE) . Again, it is decently attended and well-received. What I learnt from this screening is that the only way to extricate donations towards my desire of paying for a new, well-educated, teacher for Mir’s school is to actually have buckets held out by the doors on the way out of the cinema. Asking folk to visit the website fails. Handing out flyers fails. Two students jumped up after this screening and made paper hats from newspaper and held them out to everyone leaving – and raised 150 euros in one go. I am delighted..and somewhat peeved as I have had so many screenings that I could have done that at – and didn’t. I should have learnt from the Church – they know how to raise cash. Pass the tray round or hold a bucket out and get the cash from people before they leave the building. Oh well… Live & Learn.

Fri – Back to Britain…and it’s not quite over yet. In the afternoon, I give a talk about documentary film-making to some young kids at Brighton College (rapidly becoming accepted as one of the top schools in the UK) and then, after dinner and general fun & games at home, I drive off for my last Mir event: a conference on Afghanistan to be held at Marlborough College, an hour or two west of London.
The event on Saturday turns out to be fascinating (and well-run). I attend excellent presentations today from Bijan Omrani, Rob Johnson and Frank Ledwidge. Mostly concerned with history and contemporary military failures. The event is very well attended and the screening of MIR at the end of the afternoon goes very well. I hang around for a pleasant dinner and then head home, arriving about 1am.

Sun – I’m with my family now and I’m so delighted this mini-Mir-madness is over….It’s time to ease back a little and hope the films take on a life of its own….My golf swing has become way too rusty…

Oh shame…just heard we were not shortlisted for an Oscar. Lots of other omissions too such as (amazingly) Senna and The Interrupters. The selection committee like old-school simple emotional narratives it seems. I’d been told MIR stood no chance but I’d lived in hope for the past few months – it would have been great publicity. Well, we tried….and, on that, one has to say we’ve tried our best for the last year. We said we’d push it for this twelve months (at our own expense) and that time has now ended….Let’s see what happens…Maybe in 6 or so months from now we’ll be able to judge what impact, if any, the film had had….

Leonardo Live

Wednesday 9th November 2011

I’ve been counting down the days and, finally, it is done. LEONARDO LIVE has passed. This is the morning after the night before. I don’t think I’ve ever known such a stressful project – not Afghanistan, Nigeria, Angola, Brazil, nowhere. But we made it – on TV and in 41 cinemas across the UK, we had an unbroken 73 minute show live from the National Gallery. It is two years since I first thought it would be nice to share the privilege of being at great exhibitions after-hours with a wider audience, i.e, in this case, a cinema audience. I always recognised that the Leonardo would be a good first show to do but I had no idea at all it would be such a perfect choice.

The press has been utterly extraordinary – ‘the greatest exhibition I’d ever seen’, ‘the most wondrous exhibition ever’ and so on. It really helped achieve a remarkable success – 95% sold out. I had originally thought to do a live screening to kids at midday in cinemas but the cinema chain that I managed to bring on board decided, for them, it had to be for an adult (and paying) audience. Then I had to get a broadcaster interested and the enthusiastic and ambitious SkyArts came on board. It wasn’t quite that straightforward, of course, but suffice to say without Sky there would have been no project. Luckily the National Gallery were open to the idea and I was lucky enough to hook up with the one person with the insight, energy and sheer brilliant person skills to make this happen. Gosh, looking back, there were so many hurdles – access, cabling, lighting, so on and so forth. But we just kept moving forward small step by small step.. It seems that no-one had filmed live from the gallery before (though that seems hard to believe) but certainly from the basement that is the Sainsbury Wing it seemed impossible. We tested with radio frequency cameras (which worked OK) but, in the end, thanks to the advice of the live production team we worked with (Leopard), we went for cabling. I can still remember spending most of my two week holiday in France dealing with that on the phone; it seemed impossible. But, again thanks to our National Gallery colleague, we somehow were able to lay cables into the roof of the gallery space at the same time as they were building the rooms for the exhibition.

When you remember this is the biggest exhibition in years and includes paintings & drawings worth not millions but billions, the fact they let little old us in is a thing of wonder! At the same time as this was on-going, there were satellite links to book, press releases and posters to check, picture clearances to be sought (and that is another massive task). Above all perhaps, there was the creative process to engage in: what is the film going to show? How? What? We decided very early to have two presenters (Tim Marlow and Mariella Frostrup) and a mix of pre-recorded background films as well as live talk with intelligent guests in front of the paintings. That basic premise never changed though maybe too many people were involved in the scripting at different stages – all wanting to do a good job but sometimes you need one clear voice to drive it forwards. This was tricky because the live script had to be pre-written and the pre-recorded script had to work around it. I’d have expected it to be the other way around so that was a long, difficult process. The default of ‘Live’ folk is quick, quick, quick whereas I lean to taking more time to let people look and learn. The best way on a show like this is probably somewhere in-between. Anyway, the day dawned finally and the 70-odd crew made their way to the gallery. A road outside was shut off to allow the trucks to park and set up their satellite links. Mariella and Tim came in and did their make-up, rehearsals, and so on. The minutes ticked by until finally at 6.40 we went live to cinemas with a special 20 minute (cinema-only) intro of fun facts and then at 7pm we went live to both cinemas and on TV. The next 75 minutes were nail-biting. Tim & Mariella were super, as were most of the guests. The technology worked – my word, I can still remember the endless, endless hours spent on discussing the technology to get these signals out live. Hats off & thanks again to Leopard Films for working so hard to get the show up in the air live and bouncing back down again to cinemas and TVs around the country. Along the way, we had an autocue failure and a camera failure but, again, that’s live TV I guess.

The point is what did the folk in the cinemas and front rooms think? And that answer came back to me very quickly – they loved it! They forgave the glitches because they just loved seeing the paintings in huge HD, they enjoyed hearing the background, they enjoyed the guests. Some cinemas immediately rebooked it for a repeat showing. SkyArts’ viewing figures were, for them, huge. And everyone said that this certainly had been a gamble but it had proved to be a gamble that had paid off. The National has already asked me what exhibition should we do next! And I have meetings with four other major London institutions and a couple of international galleries too…This could run and run. If I have anything to do with it, you need never miss a major exhibition again!!

Sunday 6th November - Leonardo Live

Back in the UK (after a very nice screening at the Smithsonian in Washington DC) in an edit suite in London. Preparing some short documentary inserts for Tuesday’s big event: LEONARDO LIVE. I can’t honestly say it has been as much fun getting this far as making MIR or HAYDN – it’s a helluva lot easier working in a small team whereas Leonardo Live has about 100 folk involved. But the team I’ve employed to do the live production – Leopard Films – are doing a fine job and it should be a great night. I always knew there’d be an audience in the cinemas and just about all 40 cinemas that are taking it live have sold out! And I hope SkyArts get a good audience too (they are showing it live as well). Above all, the paintings – all 9 of them – will be shown in HD on big and small screens throughout the country. And soon the world. Wonderful. Mind you, I say all this two days before the show and I am most certainly not counting any chickens! Trucks, cables, dozens and dozens of crew, satellite links, radio frequencies, 600 guests to the preview night itself, egos, stress, adrenaline, excitement, fear….and, above all, the paintings. I just hope they don’t get it swamped in all the technology. Well, we’ll see…or you will if you watch it on TV or in the cinema: just know while you watching no-one is more scared witless than me. And if the show seems to go OK I want us all to raise a glass at 8.30pm UK time and toast Leonardo da Vinci and the rockets he first drew which ultimately put satellites in the sky. (LATER: started editing (three suites) at 11.30am - ended at 2.30am next morning. Madness. All I can say is you had better bloody well watch the show now after all this effort!!).

Wednesday 2nd November - The Boy Mir, Frontline Club, London.

So here we are, the day after the night before. More4 showed THE BOY MIR – TEN YEARS IN AFGHANISTAN last night . After all the to-ing and fro-ing, the contracting, the hustling, the 70-page security protocols that went back and forth, the film has come and gone. Ten years ago, it would have been on Channel 4 and watched by 2 million. More 4 – it’s 200,000. Then again, in the cinemas, you’ll get 2000, maybe 20,000…So it’s a rough old game. But it’s on catch-up and will be repeated and folk are talking on social media about buying the DVD…so who knows? There is so much stuff out there, so much competition on your and my time, that having anyone see your film at all is a minor miracle. But still, one can’t help but feel a little low – I really want people to see the film and, moreover, think they should. I write this on a plane to Washington (very nice flight on Delta I have to say) where I’m screening at the Smithsonian. A couple of days earlier I had a nice screening at the best club in London, the Frontline Club in Paddington… it was the first time I felt I really benefitted from writing a blog – someone at the club had read how a cinema recently did not feel it could give me a free pudding with a coffee (despite my travelling at my expense for 4 hours to get there) and so the lovely lady at the Frontline gave me a free dinner! Mind you, the event was sold out and I could have done with a fee too. How are film-makers supposed to make ends meet? I don’t get it. Anyways, here I am flying merrily to Washington DC for another screening. I'm only staying a night but the organisation has provided the flight in business so it's all very comfortable (albeit via Atlanta) and I have got a huge amount of work done. I'm one of those rare folk who look forward to long flights as I get so much done....

Leonardo Live - One week to go....

Just one week to go now…. I can still remember the moment, two years ago, when I thought wouldn’t it be great to share the privilege of filming so often in galleries with a national and indeed international cinema audience. I love and respect what SkyArts do but there will undoubtedly be something special about seeing paintings in HD on a big screen. The Met Opera, NT Live and others have paved the way and now, 101 weeks later, here we are about to launch a global first – LEONARDO LIVE.



Presenters Mariella Frostrup and the art historian and director of the White Cube gallery, Tim Marlow, will be joined by a cast of celebrated guests from the worlds of art, fashion, theatre and film to bring a unique behind-the-scenes look at this incredible exhibition. Guests will include the actress Fiona Shaw, Creative Director of the Royal Opera House and dancer Deborah Bull, the musician Nitin Sawhney and photographer Eamonn McCabe who will be discussing key aspects of Leonardo’s life and work. Pre-recorded films will also offer insight into Leonardo’s biography and the individual paintings. Bringing together the largest ever number of Leonardo’s rare surviving paintings; it will include international loans never before seen in the UK.
This is the first ever time that both versions of the Virgin of the Rocks, from the Louvre and the National Gallery, will be viewed together. The Salvator Mundi will also be featured in the programme, the first rediscovered Leonardo in 100 years which was once sold for £45 and is now worth an estimated £125m.

This pioneering simulcast, created and produced by PhilGrabskyFilms.com in association with LeopardFilms for SkyArts seeks to give the widest possible audience the opportunity to experience this once-in-a-lifetime exhibition.
I remember as a child living near Manchester that the idea of going to a gallery in London was an impossibility. Now we can bring the gallery to you – of course on TV but also in cinemas. I have been making documentaries now for 25 years and, in many ways, it has become much, much tougher than ever before to do anything valuable and crafted. I specialise in arts, classical music, social docs and history – in sum, four of the hardest areas to be in. I still remember the Head of BBC2 in the late 90s telling me that arts & history were dead on TV. ‘Get into reality shows’ I was told. Well, 120 Tim Marlow shows later, two box office successes with IN SEARCH OF MOZART & IN SEARCH OF BEETHOVEN (and next January IN SEARCH OF HAYDN) and many more including, recently, THE BOY MIR – TEN YEARS IN AFGHANISTAN shows it can be done. But it’s hard, at times seemingly impossible. Most at fault have been the broadcasters who worried there was no audience for content. I knew they were wrong – I see the crowds at concerts and art galleries, etc. You all know it too from the areas you report on. But change is in the air: my cinema screenings are full – LEONARDO LIVE is sold out across 40 screens in the UK. Worldwide it may play in dozens of countries – and it is the first of a series of such films I intend to do. My Afghan film (also, in its way, about human creativity and potential) THE BOY MIR has played in dozens of UK cinemas and will continue to do so. One day here, one week there. It’s not commercial but the films are seen. Digital technology in only a handful of years has changed everything. The VOD revolution has also begun. If you love art and are willing to look out for it you can find it. The downside, of course, is that fewer folk stumble across things. THE BOY MIR tonight plays on More4 – and will get maybe 200,000 viewers – my films in the 90s on BBC2, ITV and C4 got 2 to 3 million.

I hope you get the chance to see LEONARDO LIVE next Tuesday – it has been extremely difficult to do but we are about to bring the wonders of Leonardo on small and big screen in HD to viewers from Bolton to Brisbane, Reading to Rio. I’m exhausted by it all but I hope on the 9th November I’ll feel it was worthwhile and I hope you will too.

Best wishes, Phil Grabsky
PhilGrabskyFilms.com & Seventh Art Productions

Hello everybody – and thank you to all of you who recently gave me your email addresses at screenings.

We have had wonderful press in the newspapers and on TV but it remains an awful struggle to (1) get cinemas to show it and (2) get audiences in to watch it. So to all of you who came..Thank You! I tried to attend as many of those screenings as I could though I wish the cinemas would at least contribute to my fuel costs!
One cinema said I could have a free biscuit with my coffee but not a free cake (and I’d just travelled three hours to get there!). Anyway, more importantly, the audience reactions to the film have been as strong as I’ve ever had for any of my films. The Q&As have always been good and I have met so many interesting folk who have expressed a real compassion for Mir and his family. As you’ll have gathered, the film was finished about 12 months ago so what has happened to Mir since then? Well, I had hoped to return in person this June to show him the film to them in person but, sadly, my Afghan colleague Shoaib thought it was simply too dangerous. I also thought the money it would cost me to get there would be better spent by being given to Mir directly.
Anyway, Shoaib did go and meet them in a city in the north (the first tarmac that Mir had ever seen) where, after some difficulty, he managed to get Mir, Abdul and Khoshdel identity cards and then bank accounts. We have now transferred some money which will help them and, in Mir’s case, will help him continue with his schooling. They also saw the film which they really liked. For my part, I committed to spend a year pushing the film (at our own expense) and that year is almost up. I have a handful of UK screenings left- and two trips to Washington DC mid November to show politicians. We had a wonderful premiere screening here at the Royal Geographical Society and it was very well attended with charity folk, authors, diplomats, famous actors, etc but it was also notable that no politician – and we’d invited them all – turned up. I hope Washington is more successful. Perhaps all the attention (and some really nice 5-6 minute pieces) on CNN, BBC World news, Voice of America, Deutsche Welle, and others will catch someone’s attention. I feel so strongly that if you are making decisions about millions, billions, of dollars being spent in Afghanistan and, more importantly, lives being risked and lost, then you have the responsibility to know who the Afghans are – for that, watch this film. Anyway, we’ll keep on trying.
Do keep an eye on our Facebook site, or my blog. If you would like to help us get the film seen please visit http://www.sponsume.com/project/boy-mir

Thank you again for your interest and I’ll send more news after Christmas.
Phil

Phil Grabsky's Blog - The Boy Mir - U.K Screenings

Well, I for one thinks the train service is pretty good in the UK...at least that's been my experience over the past week as I've bounced around doing Q&As for The Boy Mir. Last weekend was a whistle-stop to Edinburgh and York and it all worked out really well. Indeed the screenings in London before that and these ones more recently have been pretty well attended. Perhaps more importantly the film has been very well received. Everyone stays for the Q&A and there are always far more questions than time allows. It's wonderful to see how moved people are by Mir' s story and I can also see that people are thinking, realising, that Afghanistan is a more complicated story than a blunt 'Bring the Troops Back Home' slogan... Financially for us, these one-off screenings make little commercial sense - cinemas these days won't even cover your train fares (and one said to me, after a three hour journey to get there, that I could have a free biscuit with my coffee but not a cake!). But I'm glad to be doing it and I know it will work out. 100 screenings in the UK is my target...we're going to hit 50 OK but those other 50 will need a lot of ringing, emailing, pleading on out behalf...but we'll get there. Meanwhile, we have been getting lots and lots of press attention - BBC World News, CNN, BBC World TV, and lots more. Rotten Tomatoes website still has us at 100% appreciation and 100% reviews...and the film has been nominated for some more awards...so little by little... Shaoib is in Afghanistan right now and will be trying to talk to Mir...news soon I hope.

28th September 2011

Well, here we are...the UK premiere. It was one of those dates that went in the diary and seemed a LONG way away and now here we are. The Royal Geographical Society tonight (all invited!) should be a great place to launch the film. There will be lots of guests, that's for sure and we've great prizes for the raffle...but, above all, it will be a good way to show the film to the UK for essentially the first time.

I feel so honoured that Michael Morpurgo is coming to introduce the film - and it's been great to have so many messages of support from friends and colleagues. One has to be realistic too: this won't be a red carpet premiere that precedes month-long runs in the cinemas of the country. We have a target of 100 arthouse screenings...and we'll see. Certainly we've been getting some good press coverage: Voice of America, BFBS, Afghan Voice Radio, BBC World News, BBC Radio Sussex, BBC Asian Network, Press TV, Deutsche Welle, The Guardian, Independent on Sunday and more... How much impact any of it has is impossible to gauge... I know that the positive press we have had in the past for In Search of Mozart and In Search of Beethoven does make a difference - and made both films great successes - but social docs are so tough. I guess, maybe, at the end of the day films are supposed to entertain and peopel fear a lecture from docs that report on the problems of the world... As I say, we have invested a fortune in time and money this year to shoot the film out of its rocket and by the end of November we'll have to step back and see whether it reaches any stars...(sorry about the metaphor...!! I do try to be an artists, you know!).

Anyway, it's time to dust off a suit and make my way to London - CNN want an interview at 4pm - now that could be very useful. And let's hope we raise a lot of money for charity and Mir tonight.

Friday 16th September - The Boy Mir, 10 Years in Afghanistan

Last month my colleague Shoaib very kindly and, as always, at some risk, organised for Mir to come to Mazar in the north where Shaoib organised identity cards and bank accounts for him, Khoshdel and Abdul. Yesterday we were able to transfer funds to them – which, in Mir’s case, he will be using to secure his future. More on that another time. We will be continuing to hopefully raise funds for them all via the new film THE BOY MIR – TEN YEARS IN AFGHANISTAN but, so far, though people are extremely moved sometimes by the film that hasn’t translated into donations. Maybe I should have been more specific about Mir or the school rather than saying all donations will be split between Mir, Save the Children and AfghanAid? Anyway, we have a big premiere at the Royal Geographical Society on the 28th September. Tickets on sale now! All income from that will go to those three. And maybe there is a knight (or princess) in shining armour out there… Either way, we are all working very hard on the film’s release and are thrilled by today’s Guardian piece – check it out.

Phil Grabsky's Blog - Armadillo - Review

Armadillo - Movie Review by Phil Grabsky



Rating: 5 STARS

Having worked on and off in Afghanistan for past decade (making a film The Boy Mir - Ten Years in Afghanistan) I was really interested to see this film. Yes, it is another film from the POV of the foreign soldiers - and maybe we need more from the ANA or ANP perspective (but broadcasters don't want to fund those) - but I have to say I think this is the best I've seen. Restrepo, Where Soldiers Come From, and many more are all interesting, often brave, often powerful films but the sheer humanity of this film really gets to you. Brave young guys suddenly fighting for their lives in a ditch in the middle of no-where. And, don't forget, the film-makers in the same ditch - and they too have kids at home, wives & parents waiting by the phone. It doesn't tell the whole story - no film can - but you have to see it.

Armadillo is currently available to watch on 4OD. For more information please visit the official website

Phil Grabsky's Blog - Milan - The Boy Mir, In Search of Haydn, Leonardo Live.

Milan 28 August 2011: well, I know I moan about funding and stuff but some days are really worth all the headaches. Today was one. I started before dawn to drive up to Heathrow airport to catch the early flight to Milan. I know they take a lot of stick but I really enjoy flying BA (most of the time) and this was, again, a nice comfortable flight. Then, after the long train ride into Milano Centrale (one of the greatest train terminals in the world), I was at my hotel by midday. Then began a typical day of working on three projects at once. To begin with I did 2 hours of emails concerning the Boy Mir film. The recent screenings in NY, LA and Chicago were, overall, very successful in terms of generating reviews and interest. The actual screenings were poorly attended (but so were the other docs I saw) but many of those who did see the film have become very active in supporting it and spreading the word. Ultimately, I think it's word-of-mouth that makes a film gain traction so that's hopeful. On the other hand, we lost our extra bookings in NY & LA because, almost bizarrely, we got too much press attention. I certainly can not tell cinema managers how to do their jobs; they know best. BUT I'd have thought having a great line from the LA Times or Village Voice would help sell tickets - I'm not convinced documentary film-goers are that concerned about seeing something the week it comes out. But, hey, I can't really be sure. Anyway, since my trip to the USA, I've been getting a stack of emails and facebook messages which take time to deal with. At 2.30pm I switched to project 2: Leonardo Live. It was 30 degrees and my shoulders are now a mess but for three hours I traipsed with HD camera and tripod the wonderful city of Milan from one Leonardo location to the next - gathering up some GVs (general views) that we need as background for our live show on the 8th November (Leonardo Live will go to cinemas and TV at 7pm UK time on the 8th November - a first-ever live event from the opening of an art exhibition and not any old exhibition but the biggest worldwide exhibition of this year).

I could have used an assistant today or someone to carry the tripod at least but the budget doesn't allow for it - broadcasters, when they insist we work for smaller and smaller budgets, should come on a shoot sometime. I bet none of them could carry a tripod - never mind camera, tripod and rucksack - for more than 2 minutes. Funnily enough, the last Leonardo shot was a great statue outside La Scala. And there I changed to project no 3: In Search of Haydn. Today's search took me to another super interview with Gianandrea Noseda who is rapidly shooting up my charts as one of my favourite people.. Not only did he give me an excellent interview but then I attended his rehearsal (with La Scala's orchestra) of Dvozak's Symphony no 8 in G major and a piece by Weber. Both were great: for 2 and a half hours I was utterly engrossed by both the music and Gianandrea's attention to detail, energy, control and, well, sheer artistry. I was privileged to be there. Things got even better when - and I will now be accused of name-dropping, I know - I then went to dinner with Gianandrea and one of the world's best pianists Leif Ove Andsnes. I tried my best to contribute but really I just wanted to ask questions and hear them talk! The food was fabulous too - thank you Milan! Thank you Italy! You may have Berlusconi but he will pass and the food, the architecture, the music and so much more will go on for ever. It's now 1am - my feet are killing me, my shoulders wrecked, my belly bigger, my brain scrambled, my nose sunburnt but it's been a good day - oh, one extra treat: Man City won away to Spurs 5-1. OK, early flight tomorrow. Must go. Ciao.

Phil Grabsky's Blog - New York - The Boy Mir - Documentary Daze.

Documentary Daze. A day of endless documentary talking and watching. The first film I saw was Better this World - directed by Katie Galloway and Kelly Duane de la Vega. It was about an aborted attack on the Republican National Convention in 2008. Very strong film. Then I saw about half an hour of Miss Representation by Jennifer Siebel Newson - about how mainstream media objectifies women. Not a fresh idea but that's probably the point! I guess you have to keep making such films until things change. I guess I have to side, at the end of the day, with the view that documentaries do, in some small way, have an influence. But it can feel like your canoeing up a waterfall. Then I went to Werner Herzog's Cave of Forgotten Dreams in 3d. Spectacular and the best use of 3d I've thus far seen - and clearly a small rig too. Everything was right - even the captions (which the Royal Opera House's Carmen got so wrong). Herzog is a must-watch director - always interesting though certainly at times a bit quirky. Those 30,000+ cave drawings though make the whole film wonderful. His choice of music wasn't perfect either. Indeed, wall to wall music seems to be the de facto way to make docs these days.



Then I saw Steve James' The Interrupters. A film about trying to reduce street-crime in Chicago. Again, strong. Good characters, good access. Film-makers sure do put themselves on the line for these films, I have to say. Too long again - the message began to repeat, and repeat. But still worth seeing. Then my own The Boy Mir premiere screening. Poorly attended but those who watched it very very enthusiastic and the Q&A afterwards went on towards 1am. I think that's going to be the struggle - if I can get folk to see it, they'll really like it. But are people tired of Afghanistan?

Phil Grabsky's Blog - New York - The Boy Mir, Docuweeks Theatrical Documentary Showcase 2011

Thursday 11th August 2011

A full-on documentary day. Meetings with distributors; and emails and texts galore. Watched Errol Morris' Tabloid - there are not that many documentary film-makers whose name alone makes me want to see whatever they do. Morris, however, is one. Tabloid doesn't disappoint - great style, entertaining and interesting - although I have to say I'm left at the end slightly unsure of Morris' attitude to the story. Then went to a HBO-hosted event for the Docuweek Showcase. It seemed to be a clever mix of opening event and excuse to show one of their own films that isn't in the Showcase. Marathon Boy is about that little Indian kid we all gawped at a few years back when he ran 42 miles. Very nicely made film, albeit half an hour too long. I won't give much away but the film has many good moments and some shocks too. I was, however, left with rather too many questions. Still, the film-maker really must have worked hard and I hope the film does well for her. At the event tonight there were something like 200 folk, just to show once again how competitive the doc world is now. So it's such a bunfight what films do well and which don't - plus the importance of contacts, publicity budget and what-not... A few observations from this event too: 1: I listened in to three conversations. Each was exactly the same. Person one says 'I ...' the second person listens for a pause and then says 'I..' and so it goes on. Not one of those people asked a question of the other! 2: at any one time there were 30 people on mobiles. No-one feels able to stand for a second on their own. 3: I overheard a woman discussing her forthcoming $65,000 food and beverage bill for her wedding. She can't have been a documentary film-maker. 4: the Time Warner building has a great view over Central Park, reminding you that this has to be the most exciting city in the world. 5: I hope one day Mir gets to visit. Back at the hotel, the all-important New York Times review comes in...bit so-so I have to say. The reviewer loved The Boy who Plays on the Buddhas of Bamiyan and thinks the long span of time for the new film makes it a little patchy. Which it is...but you don't want to sit and watch a three-hour film. Luckily on Rotten Tomatoes they mark it down as a positive review with the summary: 'If you've seen the first film, you'll want to come back to see Mir's progress through life. And no matter what happens, it seems, the smile remains.' Also Jules Brenner on Filmcritic.com writes a great review whose summary is 'Conveys an understanding of Afghan culture better than anything we've seen yet. Well worth its ninety minute screen time, and a lot more.'.

Phil Grabsky's Blog - Croatia, Brighton and New York

Monday 8 August: A big week for the release of my film: The Boy Mir – Ten Years in Afghanistan. Today in Croatia at a film festival. The films get shown in the most beautiful setting: on a huge inflatable screen in a mountain canyon, bizarrely next to the entrance to Tito’s once-secret cave complex. This could so easily be a peaceful Afghanistan in 20 years. Could but won’t be. At 2 o’clock in the morning I was in a bar with singing Croats, Serbians, Macedonians, Slovenians…I can’t say the former Yugoslavia is totally at ease with itself but what a dream for Afghanistan to get here. Bed at 2.30am .

Tuesday 9 August: Hotel balcony door bursts open at 3.50am. A storm has whipped up and it’s mighty windy. Slept on and off till 6am. Went downstairs for the car that was to take me to Zagreb airport. Only problem was the local tunnel had been shut by the storm – disaster; I had to get to the airport. Eventually a high-speed dash at Top Gear speeds along an alternative (and beautiful) coast road got me to the gate with 3 minutes to spare. Went in to the office in Brighton and waded through emails and post. Was heading to London for Kevin Spacey’s Richard III but rioting London kind of put me and the clan off. I was never scared to go out in Kabul.

Wednesday 10th August: New York Times get in touch – I’m nervous about their review as it’s the one review that everyone in the US and indeed internationally takes notice of. Meanwhile two other projects I have underway take up a lot of time – one on the life of Haydn and the other called Leonardo Live – a live broadcast to TV and cinemas in November from what will be an extraordinary exhibition at the National Gallery. But I’m drowning in contractual squabbles. Talking to my lawyer till the plane took off for New York didn’t feel like I was any kind of a hot-shot; I felt like an overworked, underpaid, tired Dad that was spending another three days away from his kids.

Thursday 11th August: Making War Horse was on PBS last night, which is great. I have to admit my first thought though was to check any press for Mir.. and the Village Voice had posted something. Relief, it's great: 'makes you laugh and breaks your heart in equal measure'...That's the DVD cover sorted then! I hope the NY Times tomorrow is even half as nice - or, at least, not bad. Off walking to a meeting in this wild, wonderful New York City. An American male is more likely to die here than in the US military in Afghanistan. Statistics, huh? $600 billion dollars, Thousands dead. Is life any better there? Depends who you are. Has there been progress? Of course. Is the country any less likely to return to civil war? No. Are we any safer in the West? You can die from a million ways. Terrorism is not your biggest worry – maybe those cigarettes, or that drink at lunchtime before you drive home. New York City though…no sign of being in a country at war. I know a film won't do much - if anything at all - but I do hope some people take a look.

The Boy Mir - Ten Years in Afghanistan will be showing in the excellent Docuweeks Theatrical Showcase at the IFC Center. It's an honour to have been selected and I can't wait, among other things, to see the other films. Anyone who loves films - actually anyone who loves life! - should come here or to LA to see what's been chosen for screening.

Leonardo Live - Tuesday 8th November 2011

I am not sure whether to breathe a sigh of relief or become more nervous...as tickets are now on sale for our big autumn arts project - LEONARDO LIVE. I came up with the idea almost two years ago to bring the big London exhibitions to a wider, even worldwide, audience - a mix of live Tim Marlow show to both Sky Arts and cinemas but LIVE on the eve of the exhibition's opening. I choose the huge November show at the National Gallery - Leonardo da Vinci. Like all these things, I severely underestimated the complexities in ramping up from a pre-recorded show to a live one and I'd say it's been a project that has needed my attention and input every single day! But I won't bore you with the horrors of negotiating contracts, access, budgets, etc. - what I will say is that there will be ten Leonardo paintings remarkably brought to the exhibition - unique and unlikely to ever be repeated. Plus dozens of other artworks that are relevant to the core show too. Tim Marlow and Mariella Frostrup will present an 85' show at 7pm on the 8th November and you can watch it on Sky Arts in the UK or at selected Picturehouse Cinemas. We'll have background mini-docs and expert guests and hopefully no-one will fall over or slip up. It is scary doing live stuff but if I can get through Afghanistan I can get through this! More to the point, it will bring Leonardo to a wider audience in, I hope, a wonderful way - and I always want to encourage people to look and admire the work of creative genius - whether a Beethoven or a Bruegel. TV broadcasters doubt there is an audience for art and stick any shows they do make on the smaller 4th channels (BBC4/More4 in the UK - or NOT AT ALL in the USA!) but you and I KNOW they are wrong, don't we?

Tickets for Leonardo Live are available to purhcase here.

23 July 2011

That's scary - the 23rd July already. We're only three weeks off the US premiere of THE BOY MIR - TEN YEARS IN AFGHANISTAN and there remains so much to do. New York on the 12th and then LA the 19th and Chicago the 21st.I've enjoyed not being stuck in airports and airplanes for a while but that's sound about to change! Leigh, Christina and everyone in the office are working hard to get the word out but the demands upon any individual's time these days are enormous - you simply never know if the cinema will be full or empty. That's why my intention is simply to always feel we have done our best and then let the dice fall as they will. At very least we have done well to secure a two week run in both LA and NY - which, incidentally, means the film will be considered by the Oscar committee...(Hey, you never know! Mind you, a colleague in LA who works closely with the Oscars folk said he thought the film was stunning and stood no chance of being nominated - 'they simply don't nominate those kind of international social docs...' - though Born into Brothels was nominated I remember).
Anyway, more importantly, will the press give us any coverage? That's the key - and maybe it being summer won't help. It's also Ramadan so some of our Muslim audience will stay away too. Oh well, as I said, we do the best we can. The film launches in Holland soon and that will be interesting as a guide to what folk think.

I've been doing a fair bit of reading about Afghanistan recently - and the book I'd most recommend is Cables from Kabul by Sherard Cowper-Coles, the former Ambassador in Kabul. Fascinating, erudite, funny and, for me anyway, on the nail. I met him briefly last year at a conference on Afghanistan and he was all those things in person too. It's a shame I didn't get anywhere with the book idea for Mir but I'd have struggled to write anything as relevant as Sherard's insights. I must also mention in passing an excellent film made by that excellent journalist Lyse Doucet - it was on the BBC recently (and was the best of their short 'Afghanistan after 10 years' series - if you've access to I-Player, have a look. There really is no shortage of material about Afghanistan these days - quite what the public's attitude is I find hard to gauge. Certainly, when I hear the public talk on, for example, Question Time, they are extremely poorly informed - mind you, some of the panellists talk absolute rot too. And THAT'S why they have to watch my film....

Bafta - Documentary Award - At Last!

At last! BAFTA sees sense. For over 20 years, BAFTA has been embarrassingly short of a Documentary Award in its Film Awards. The OSCARS have one, so do the CESARS..and now finally – after a lot of lobbying – does the BAFTAS. It has been absurdly slow in doing this and one can only breathe a sigh of relief and say ‘about time too!’.

In Search of Haydn - the Endellion String Quartet - St. George's Bristol

These are the days I like best: today I filmed the Endellion String Quartet playing Haydn extracts / complete movements for IN SEARCH OF HAYDN. We decided that the best location for acoustic reasons was St George’s in Bristol. Chris (the sound recordist) and I travelled up late the night before to make sure we were bright & breezy for the day ahead… The day actually started with a fascinating and very useful interview with David Wyn Jones – an acknowledged expert on Haydn’s life. These are the guys that make me look good! Really all I have to do is point the camera in his direction and ask sensible, interested questions. He was an articulate, treasure trove of information and, while I need to guard against too many British historians dotted throughout the film, I know I’ll use him. It’s always more exciting to do the interviews late in the process too as (1) your questions are more focussed but (2) you can immediately see where parts of answers will slot straight into the film. Phil Reynolds (the genius editor) and I have been editing the film for three weeks, mainly working on the musical moments, but now we can start laying in the narrative moments. All very exciting. My only concerns are that I’ll run out of time before examining every avenue but that’s always the case with any film. It’s also the downside of the struggle to raise funds – I can’t afford a full-time researcher for instance (which we always used to have on projects).
Anyway, after the interview, we set up for the recording of the music. The Endellion had wisely suggested we use a company called Classic Sound to help on this one – as the sound of a quartet has to be very carefully recorded. I have to say that Classic Sound were fantastic and we let them sort out the mics (only 4 are used, hanging above the quartet). By 1pm we were ready to start filming and for five hours I had the absolute pleasure of filming 10 different pieces – all of them gorgeous to listen to and gorgeous (I think anyway) to look at. The Endellion are not only at the top of the field musically but are great to film too – expressive, active, emotive. For those of you interested, the pieces (in extracts of maybe three minutes) we chose to film were Opus 20/4 (3rd movement), Opus 20/6 (2nd and 4th), Opus 33 /2 (finale), Opus 54/2 (slow movement), Opus 64/5 (1st movement), Opus 74/3 (finale), Opus 76/1 (first – all for the DVD extras !), Opus 76/3 (slow – the German National Anthem tune), Opus 77/2 (3rd). We finished bang on 7pm and went for a well-deserved meal…and I clung tight to my rushes knowing I had struck gold. More good news: the Endellion will ‘open’ for the world premiere of IN SEARCH OF HAYDN at the Barbican in January. They will play 76/1 and then the film will run. That’s brilliant – what a night it could be. See you there….

Hay Festival 2011

I'm at the Hay Festival in Wales and it is absolutely fantastic. It has helped, of course, to have been doing a couple of talks but whether a punter or performer, this festival is certainly one of the best. For me as a film-maker, it is without doubt more useful than any film festival. I think I learnt more about a certain area of South America yesterday a one-hour talk by an author than in any number of documentary films. Indeed, it makes you wonder (once again) what are documentary films best at? So many these days are slight, poorly crafted and without depth or thesis. Radio and books are where its at...and that is so well reflected at Hay. There are dozens of tents, there must be 2000 performers over the 9 or 10 days and the setting (especially in the sun) is outstanding. We went up to Capel-y-ffin (near Hay) and a more beautiful drive is hard to imagine. My son and I chatted to a shepherd who was rounding up (with his 5 Border Collies) 800 sheep. He was working in a tradition that was centuties old and it was as fascinating to watch as any movie. Back at the Festival, I shared the Green Room with Jo Brand, Paul Merton, Arthur Smith and Dara O'Briain and couldn't help but wonder who was the funniest! Michael Morpurgo was here too and did two wonderful readings...I said hi and gave him the latest film on Mir (he based his recent book Shadow a bit on Mir). Michael and his wife are wonderful folk. Naturally we bought a stack more books and made all sorts of plans to do way more events at literary festivals and far less as film festivals...we'll see. But we'll certainly come back to Hay next year!

The Boy Mir - Ten Years in Afghanistan - President Barack Obama's U.K state visit.

In the words of one famous American: 'I have a dream'. I accept that my dream is not comparable to Martin Luther King's in any way but I too have a dream: it is that President Obama one day calls in Michelle and the kids into the TV room in the White House...There they settle back with tubs of popcorn to watch a movie called THE BOY MIR - TEN YEARS IN AFGHANISTAN. I don't care about festivals or awards but I would love Presidents and Prime Ministers to see this film and let Mir's story in some small way influence how they behave not only in Afghanistan but everywhere. I believe we should praise the Coalition forces for their courage and sacrifice as well as acknowledge the progress that has been made. At the same time we should criticise them, their governments and their NGOs for the huge amount of progress that should have been made but hasn't. Let us not forget the terrible bloodshed on all sides; primarily the fault of the Taliban of course but not always. This film is unique and if there is only one film the President watches (and frankly he should watch any and every film on this country) then let it be this one. He and Cameron will talk at length this week but frankly if they don't understand families like Mir's then they will be wasting their time and billions more dollars and thousands more lives...

Afghanistan

Every day Afghanistan seems to bring bad news….this from the LA Times:

Insurgents massacred 36 workers at a road-construction encampment in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday, provincial and company officials said, marking one of the most lethal assaults of its kind in recent years. The Talban and other insurgents sometimes target work crews on infrastructure projects, regarding the building companies as collaborators with the central government and foreign forces. But most such projects have substantial security contingents, and it is unusual for militants to be able to kill so many in a single strike. The construction company's owner, Noorullah Bidar, one of 20 people injured in the attack, said from his hospital bed that all those slain in the predawn attack in Paktia province were Afghans. Rohullah Samon, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said the dead included laborers, technical personnel and security guards. Eight assailants died in the attack as well, he said. By Laura King, Los Angeles Times, May 20 2011

It’s so awful…yet on the other hand I did hear the female Head of the Health Ministry yesterday and, as she said, ten years ago she wouldn’t have been allowed in the ministry never mind being allowed to run it…so there is some progress to hold on to. But it is such a fine line between going forwards and backwards….

Istanbul - TRT 2011 Documentary Awards - The Boy Mir - Ten Years in Afghanistan

9 May 2011

I feel like a boxer that has just taken two almighty blows to the gut and is wondering whether to bother getting up off his knees. Just as I was talking in my last blog about festival programmers I get an email today saying a big festival I was desperate to get in to has decided no. Then a cinema chain who I thought were going to support us have moved in a different direction. Maybe I really do over-estimate the film; maybe there are so many better films out there. But it is really disheartening. I'm not really sure how best to proceed - all this distribution work & effort is self-financed and without outlets to show the film, you're stuck. We've lots of TV support - but of course these days TV show social docs on their cable networks late at night ...I don't know. I've been at this computer now for 9 hours knocking out emails in the effort to keep The Boy Mir fight going but some of these upper cuts are starting to sting....

Istanbul - TRT 2011 Documentary Awards - The Boy Mir - Ten Years in Afghanistan

7 May 2011

Arriving at 4am into Istanbul is undoubtedly exciting, especially when the taxi driver as taken this weekend's Grand Prix to heart and decides to drive through the harbours, the ancient walls, the minarets at 140 kph. Exciting but potentially deadly. Crazy town, crazy people. I haven't been here for a while (after many filming visits in the 1990s) and am delighted to be back for a documentary film festival. Too often my films have played here and I haven't been able to afford to attend. I have only had the first screening so far of The Boy Mir - Ten years in Afghanistan but it went really well. The audience afterwards refused to leave they had so many questions...I find it so strange that an audience can be so moved by a film and yet a festival programmer (who should know a thing or two about audiences) will reject a film - as Mir has been rejected recently by a Canadian festival Hot Docs that I was, frankly, sure we'd get into. I know it's all down to personal taste, zeitgeist, contacts and all that but I was still surprised. Still, saved me yet another transatlantic trip. And it meant I could come to Turkey. This is certainly one of the most interesting countries for me and I'd love more time to explore - and it was also lovely how interested the TV channels were in the film and how I came to make it. I also had the chance to see a couple of good docs: Ward 54 and Israel v Israel. Both very moving. There really are so many wrongs to right - although I doubt that life has ever been as safe and sound as it is for most people in most places. Mind you, next door in Syria, all sorts of chaos and bloodshed are breaking out. Anyway, having savoured the delights of an Istanbul kebab I retired to my hotel room to work through the endless avalanche of emails...outside, a great city roared through the night.

Friday 15th April - War Horse - New York

Making War Horse - trailer from David Bickerstaff on Vimeo.

The War Horse publicity is everywhere - gosh, I wish I had a budget like that for The Boy Mir. It's on buses, billboards, newspapers... The show is up and running at the Lincoln Centre and I'm sure (and hope) it does really well. It deserves to. AND I want folk to buy the 'Making of' DVD!!

I had dinner with Tom Morris (the co-director) and the poor guy has been here for weeks and weeks fine-tuning the show. I'm ready to go home after just over two weeks! Michael Morpurgo was interviewed by The New York Times so he's in town - I dropped by to see him on the off-chance but he was out, no doubt doing a hundred radio and newspaper interviews. If you don't do the time, you don't earn a dime. Did I just make that up? Anyway, anyone who is in New York or near by should go see the show - War Horse is spectacularly good.

Spielberg’s film comes out in December I believe and it will be fascinating to see how he adapts the same material. I'll be chatting to Tom about his adaptation at the Hay Literary Festival in May - it's a tremendously interesting craft to take a book and turn it into a film or play. Naturally it involves a whole team of people too - these things really are co-operative. The National Theatre's great skill was to have such a wonderful team right across the board.

Making War Horse - written, filmed and directed by David Bickerstaff and Phil Grabsky

IFP - Envision Forum - Phil Grabsky - Guest Blogger - The Boy Mir - Ten Years in Afghanistan

Phil Grabsky was invited by IFP Envision to take part in their guest blog spot prior to The Boy Mir - Ten Years in Afghanistan screening at the IFP Envision Forum.

Photo Credit: Phil Stearns/Envision

Here is what Phil had to say about The Boy Mir - Ten Years in Afghanistan.

"We talked about going to Mazar in April or May but I said I would be in the USA and we'd go to Mazar in June instead. There we would see Mir and his family and sort out Mir's further education and probably a new home for the entire family. Everything seemed to be going well - the film (THE BOY MIR - TEN YEARS IN AFGHANISTAN) was starting its festival life and in a month won two awards - Santa Barbara and Washington. At Seventh Art we were all excited and I looked forward to telling Mir all about it. Then, yesterday, I turned on the news. 12 people killed, slaughtered, inside the UN compound in Mazar. 12 people who would have felt really pretty safe in that northern Afghan city. 12 people with lives ahead of them, families & friends, pasts and futures. Then murdered - for what? Because some loony pastor with no brain adds petrol to a fire that just doesn't die.... All Mir wants, all 95% of Afghans want, is an education, a job, a mobile phone, a girlfriend, a future.. Stuff. Like you and I like stuff and indeed have so much stuff we stick it in attics, lock-ups, cupboards. Have you ever had nothing? I mean nothing at all. Have you ever spent all day collecting water and ploughing a field to grow wheat for bread? No, nor have I. Why should some human beings suffer so badly while the lucky few, we lucky few, drown in excess - and we do, don't deny it. Look at your CD collection, the clothes in your cupboard, the food in your fridge, the sporting gear in the garage. Your bike, my bike, is worth more than Mir earns in a year shovelling coal, ploughing the rocky earth, collecting twigs before school. I make films to entertain, to move you, to inform you - I make films to make a difference. A tiny pebble thrown into an endless lake perhaps but if we all throw a pebble, maybe one day the shadow of movement becomes a ripple, becomes a wave and change will come. Until then, mourn those poor folk in Mazar who just wanted to help. I've no intention of having less food in my cupboard or spending less on my holidays but I, we, should work towards the day when Mir too has a fully stocked fridge and sits at his computer to book a trip to Hawaii."



To read other guest blog posts from Envision speakers and panelists please visit the IFP Envison Blog

Photo Credit: Michael Cerda/Envision

The Boy Mir film hosted by the UN in New York and Mozart, Beethoven and Haydn in Boston..

The Boy Mir film hosted by the UN in New York and Mozart, Beethoven and Haydn in Boston..

Another Best Western…this time in some industrial estate in Boston. Hmmm.. Can I go home now? The Wi-Fi is useless, the TV appalling, and my work pile gets bigger not smaller…this must be some cosmic joke. For every email or phone call, two are created. I know it’s my own fault but still… Anyway, after that little moan I should say that Boston is a super city (or so it says in the hotel guide). I do know that the Museum of Fine Arts is extraordinary and it’s great that we’re screening Mozart, Beethoven and Haydn (preview) there later today as it will give me a chance to look round. I know I moan but my word, what good fortune I have really: filming in art museums after they’re closed to the public, talking to the world’s best musicians, filming backstage at the National theatre, ENO, etc, travelling the stunning landscapes of Afghanistan and so on.

So…no more moaning. If I have learnt anything from being with Mir in Afghanistan it is to appreciate every single thing I own and experience. Yesterday in New York I showed The Boy Mir at a fabulous event hosted by Envision which is a partnership between the UN and the IFP. It started on Friday with an introduction by Harry Belafonte followed by a super film ('The Sound of Mumbai') and then Saturday they showed my film followed by a discussion on documentaries and their potential impact, etc. Actually the discussion was broader than that but no less interesting. The film screening was downtown just off Times Square and the audience received the film very enthusiastically – I hope some more comes of it.

I need donations for the charities, more screening invitations, etc. It’s not enough at this stage that folk watch, applaud but then go away and think no more of it. But that involves me running around a lot, handing out business cards, selling DVDs, asking for email addresses, and so on… I had to run to Penn Station to catch my 2pm train and got there just in time…with suitcases in tow. Still, the 4 hour train journey allowed me to catch my breath as we travelled through the gorgeous landscapes between these two key US cities. One sees an enormous amount of wealth on the way up – huge houses in the woods, yachts, endless 4x4s…but it’s strange when, on arrival, you pop into the nearest McDonalds (to connect to the Wi-Fi they offer) and the place is full (I mean at least 15 or 20 folk) of crack addicts and drunks and down-on-their-luck souls.. It really can be a country of extremes. There’s so much for documentary film-makers to make films about….

Do documentaries make a difference?

It’s a bit like the lyrics of a song…’Woke up this morning and didn’t know where I was…’. Well. the tone of the tour has switched from classical music screenings (after a relatively poorly attended one in Michigan three nights ago) to The Boy Mir – Ten Years in Afghanistan. Yesterday was a presentation in Pittsburgh of the first film The Boy who Plays on the Buddhas of Bamiyan to a university class of under-graduates studying international relations. A very interesting day in a fascinating town. It’s striking to me how fresh the film is even though it was finished back in 2003. I guess its universal themes of childhood, poverty, education and so on prevent it from becoming dated. Similarly the question of how documentaries can reflect, even affect, the world remain constant. Do documentaries make a difference? I naturally believe in their power and possibility but I know many broadcasters that don’t care too much about that anymore. To me it’s an abandonment of public service principle if a broadcaster retreats to a insular view of the world and frequently one toploaded with game shows, youth culture and the promotion of acquisition: food, houses, clothes, etc. I flicked through 40 channels of American TV in my hotel room last night: in those 60 seconds I saw a reality show singer discussing her shoes, a photo of a woman beaten to death in her garage, two kids kissing in a high-school drama, a tattooed man beating on a door, 4 talk shows, 3 music shows and my favourite: a panel discussion deciding if Britney Spears ‘pooped’ before a flight or during (I kid you not!)…OK, you get the idea. What wasn’t there? World news, art, any serious documentaries at all, intelligent discussion, classical music, opera, foreign languages (except Spanish soap opera). It’s more than a shame, it’s is undermining a nation. Despite ten years of war and huge expense in Afghanistan I still meet folk here who don’t know where it is. That’s why I have to work to ensure people see the film. If not on TV, then in the cinemas, internet, DVD… Tomorrow, here now in New York, I have an important screening with the UN agency that deals with education and poverty. Maybe they’re will only be 200 people there but with blogs, Facebook, general chit-chat, word spreads. And who knows who’ll be there and what they’ll do. Someone I met yesterday is going to try and get the film into the White House….I would LOVE to imagine Michelle calling in the kids to sit on the sofa while Dad prepares the popcorn and then, as a family, they watch Mir’s story… Then of course, in my dreamworld, I get a call…. Hey, you can but hope.

Grand Rapids, Michigan

The problem with changing hotels in America every night…

• you forget your room number
• you forget where the bathroom is in the night
• you spend ages connecting to the wi-fi
• you waste time trying to find ONE DECENT programme on the TV
• you give up trying to follow world events
• you long for an Italian cappuccino
• you long for bread, butter, eggs, bacon, orange juice that taste natural
• you give up trying to open a window

BUT
• you sleep really well on big comfortable beds
• the staff are friendly
• there is free parking
• there are lots of towels, hangers, soaps, etc
• the wi-fi is free

Flying in America.

It is always ‘for Operational Reasons’ that has me bounding down endless corridors to get to a revised Gate in time. You book a flight, they cancel it – you run. I had 8 minutes today at Washington Dulles to get from check-in to Gate B73 – and that included passport, security, train ride and the 100 metre sprint… I guess Operational Reasons means they didn’t sell enough tickets. If I missed it, I had three hours to wait and I’d miss the start of tonight’s screening. Luckily I made it on board and it was fine though a shame I had to go via Dallas to get to Kansas. Makes for a long trip. But this country is huge and I do wonder if it really is worth having these screenings and doing these Q&As when I’ll only ever scratch the surface here. On the other hand, every day I get exciting emails with requests and offers so maybe there’s a rhyme to the reason. And the occasional jogs through airline terminals keep me a wee bit fitter…. LATER SAME DAY…OK, so I arrive in Dallas and wander through the very busy airport (lots of soldiers) and get to the gate only to be told the plane is undergoing a technical inspection…the delay is …three hours. Eventually we take off. The flight is note-worthy for being served the worst coffee ever. To cap things off, at Kansas airport, they tell me they have lost my bag! I have to wait (a short while) until the next plane. I finally get to the hotel and the electronics on the doors are bust so I can’t get into any of the rooms…Man-o-Man. One hour after the film has started, I arrive at the cinema. I’m very apologetic but the very nice manager is all smiles: ‘we are 100% full, not a spare seat. We’ve had some many phone calls we’re extending by five days’. Somehow that makes it all worthwhile….

On a voyage of Discovery

He started, so they say, from his garage. He mortgaged his house and then bought documentaries for $1000 /each. A ridiculously low figure 20 years ago – now so common. He felt that Americans wanted to know more about the roots – that, unlike their parents, the new generation was interested in the ‘old countries’. His name was John Hendricks and he started the Discovery Channel. Today, many years later, in a wet, miserable Silver Spring towards the end of the Washington DC Metro line, I stood at the doors of a huge office block holding the many Discovery Channel families. John I expect was enjoying his multi-million dollar wealth somewhere. I’ve made many films for them but that was back in the day when they wanted decent history shows rather than reality shows about deep sea fishermen, gold pan-handlers or whatever. TV has changed almost beyond recognition in two decades and Discovery has been a part of that – part the cause and part the effect. Like so many big institutions it has always come down to individuals. My friend there is one of the good guys – smart, hard-working, passionately interested in the world. Yet even he (a high up exec) feels the jelly under his feet of job insecurity. VPs and CEOs come and go – familiar names swop between Discovery, A&E, BBC and others. The impact, the value, of programmes become secondary to audience numbers. The audience wants blood, give them blood. Julius Caesar had this worked out two thousand years ago when he flooded arenas for sea battles, brought in wild animals from Africa to fight gladiators and so on. But you know what? No kid wants to go the theatre but take them to see Romeo and Juliet and they’ll want to go back. Take them to see Marriage of Figaro and they’ll want to see The Magic Flute. So, I say to my buddy at Discovery, hang in there, they need you!