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!

An Incident

There were two doors – an In and an Out. They were clearly marked. The Out had that familiar red circle with a white line. I couldn’t miss it. Big official building on Capitol Hill, central Washington DC. Very Roman – all big walls and columns. Police cars and blocked-off roads. A city in fear of terrorist attack. Two doors and I was there for a TV interview about war in Afghanistan, poverty & education in Afghanistan, a young boy’s life in Afghanistan. Someone came out of the Out door and while it slowly closed I nipped in. ‘Other door, sir!’ A large man in a crisp blue shirt with official letters across the chest as well as keys and phones and maybe even a gun. ‘Other door’. ‘So sorry’, I said and started to walk to the desk. ‘Out of the Out door, and come back in the In door’. ‘You’re joking’, I said, knowing he wasn’t. ‘You want me to go out that door and come back in the one next to it?!’ ‘That, sir, is what you will do’. Another crisp blue shirt took up position behind me. And another gazed my way, aware of a slight disturbance and eager to somehow participate. Now some things wash over me; I don’t care. But this kind of petty nonsense always winds me up. ‘That, sir, is the height of stupid-ness!’ I decided in a split second not to say ‘stupidity’ as ‘stupid-ness’ sounded more appropriate. ‘That door sir is the way in’. I saw the producer of my interview plead with her eyes for me to swallow my indignation and retrace my clearly all-too-vital steps. I did, laughing out loud to show I had the moral high ground. The man who was there to provide security had, in his incredibly small way, done quite the opposite. Crisp blue shirts no longer suggest order and calm; they now say to me needlessly aggressive, short-sighted and stupid. Then I talked on TV about the war in Afghanistan.

Tuesday 29 March 2011 - Washington DC. USA.

I arrived in Washington yesterday after a nice easy British Airways flight and came straight to the Austrian Embassy for tonight's screening. I had showed Mozart here a couple of years ago and they very nicely have invited me back for a screening of IN SEARCH OF BEETHOVEN. The embassies are all next to each-other out here and we're opposite the UAE and the Egyptian - you can imagine how busy these embassies have been over the last few weeks. Maybe that's how Vienna felt back in the late 1700s when Napoleon was charging through Europe - you simply didn't know what was what. Here the Ambassadors of so many embassies, especially the North African and Middle Eastern countries, have been turned upside down and inside out. Fascinating times indeed. But my film concerns an earlier period though no less fascinating and I was delighted to see a full auditorium seated at 7.30pm ready to go. It wasn’t the greatest screen or projector but it didn't seem to matter - the audience loved the film and stayed afterwards for many questions. As so often in US screenings, you meet so many delightful people, albeit briefly. It only serves to frustrate me too as I know there are not 300 but 30,000 people like last night's audience who would enjoy the film in Washington but connecting to them, making them aware of the film and giving them the chance & easy possibility to see it is so difficult - but we'll keep trying. And Social Media - Facebook, blogs, twitter, etc - whatever one thinks of it all is undoubtedly a great tool to help us. Anyway, a good first night of this two week tour...