Thursday 1st March

Thursday 1st March
Now here’s a tough one. I have been asked to do a lecture on my top ten documentaries…Crumbs! I’ve been mulling that over. Where to start? It’s so easy to think about the last two or three years but I’ve been watching docs for 30+ years – and then there is 70-odd years before that too. And Top Ten in what sense? My favourites to watch? The ones I feel were the best made? The most effective? The most popular? Go on, take a moment or two and think for yourself which ones come to mind. Naturally I can’t vote for my own so I’ll have to think of another ten! (My own top three would be THE BOY MIR, IN SEARCH OF BEETHOVEN and HEAVY WATER)… Only kidding, right, let’s go. 


Image from IMDb

Night Mail, loved it. The mix of photography, music and poetry were and remain wonderful. I wish we had more films like that today. Koyaanisqatsi (or however on earth you spell it) – a very influential film for me. I remember seeing it when it first came out – and it showed me how documentary can be anything the director wants. It doesn’t need interviews or narration. And those shots of the packed Twin Towers’ escalators have taken on such a meaning for me now.  Dennis O’Rourke’s Cunnamulla – shot on a PD150 in his typically direct, bit tricky, emotional but certainly signature style. I saw it at Sheffield and decided I wanted to do feature docs too. My Muhammad Ali feature doc that I then made opened the next year’s festival and remains one of my proudest days.



Image from IMDb



Others: Little Dieter needs to Fly, Touching the Void, Anvil, The Great Silence, The Elements, Shed your tears and Walk Away, got to be something from Errol Morris surely…and what about those hundreds of docs on TV I’ve watched…hmmm, dozens of poor ones but some of those old Modern Times were super.… and the work of my buddy David Bickerstaff…OK, I’ll need to think about this…oh, and some non-English language ones….

Anyway, back to today: had a screening this evening of THE BOY MIR. It was particularly nice as lots of the Adelaide Afghans came and I always enjoy the screenings when Afghans are there – not least because they can hear the profanities in the background which are not in the subtitles. Half the audience are giggling and the other half guessing why. It’s very interesting, actually; I always imagined I was making the film to inform (and entertain) a western & Japanese audience. I don’t remember ever really taking into account the Afghans who might see it. Now, I realise my mistake – they are actually the most important audience of all. Why? Two reasons: first, I have had so many Afghans who have said they watch the film again and again at home – they adore seeing their homeland, hearing the jokes, seeing a film that is actually about Afghans not foreign soldiers. Some talk of their parents watching the film maybe once a week, every week! So the film has really offered something to many Afghans in exile and that is wonderful. Also, I had not predicted at all how many wish the film were shown immediately in Afghanistan to reinforce two keys things: first, that education is essential and for those who have it, look at Mir, and know not to take schooling for granted.

Secondly, I have had at least a handful of Afghans stand up and declare ‘I am Pashtun. I have always looked down on the Hazara but, after this film, I will never do so again’. My ego and ambition want more for the film but actually aren’t those Afghan responses enough? After the film I went to dinner with about 30 of the audience – I couldn’t resist the offer of kebabs – and was very touched by how much the film meant to them. The life of exiles and refugees is so tough that I’m glad a little film can bring a lot of joy.