24th September 2014

Phil talks to WFMT while he's in Chicago with In Search of Chopin for a special series of preview screenings prior to its release next year. See below or follow the link for the original article: http://ow.ly/BRCeD

Documentary Filmmaker Phil Grabsky at WFMT

Friday, September 19, 2014 by Noel Morris

Filmmaker Phil Grabsky at WFMT, photo by Noel Morris

When Phil Grabsky looks out into the world, he sees stories that need to be told. As an independent filmmaker, he’s followed his passion from Brazil to Angola, from Chernobyl to Afghanistan. He also has a fascination for great composers.

In Search of Chopin
“His grave in Paris remains a place of pilgrimage and his music continues to sell out concert halls worldwide – but who exactly was this man who was terrified of public performance, who fled his Polish homeland for Paris never to return, took up with the most notorious transvestite in France, rarely gave public performances and, despite a life of ill-health, wrote some of the deepest and most powerful music ever written? How exactly did a young Polish boy rise to such heady heights?
For four years, Phil Grabsky has traveled the globe in his quest to lay bare the life and music of Chopin.”
—Seventh Art Productions

Phil Grabsky is in Chicago to introduce his new film In Search of Chopin. He stopped by WFMT to play Guest Host with Kerry Frumkin, and offered a mixture, including Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Mozart, and (of course) Chopin. “I can’t understand why someone wouldn’t want to explore Chopin.” According to Mr. Grabsky, with all the negativity in the world, it’s essential to immerse oneself in the works of people who are so inspired.

Phil Grabsky speaks with Kerry Frumkin, photo by Noel Morris

He talks about a moment in the film, In Search of Chopin, when pianist and performance artist Hershey Felder wonders how so much talent could be poured into one person [Chopin]. “Is it a gift from God?”
According to Mr. Grabsky, one can’t help musing about such things, but the challenge is to train the lens upon “what can be explained.” That is, stitching together a narrative through the art, the people, and the events of a subject’s life.
In Search of Chopin is the latest in Phil Grabsky’s composer series which includes In Search of Haydn, In Search of Beethoven, and In Search of Mozart.
Click to learn more about Phil Grabsky and his company Seventh Art Productions.
In Search of Chopin runs at the Gene Siskel Film Center through October 2nd. Director Phil Grabsky will be present for audience discussion at all screenings, Friday-Monday, September 19-22. The 2:00 pm shows on Saturday and Sunday will be moderated by WFMT’s Andrew Patner.

Wednesday 13th of March

Hello everyone. Greetings from 35,000 feet above Kansas, USA.  I’m on my way from Washington DC to Santa Fe for a few screenings of various films. My main pre-occupation right now is that I am absolutely starving and I’m in the last row – I may expire before the stone-age trolley reaches me.  I knew I should have bought a snack in the airport but I always have this problem that there are so many food outlets that I can’t bear to enter any of them. Silly really. I’m only two days in to this latest mini-tour and one does have to remember to look after oneself.  My last few hours have been pretty typical: rushing around New York to meetings and press interviews, then a dash to Brooklyn followed by another dash to Long Island for a screening (sold out which was great). Then – and this is frankly a bit unusual – a 3am train from NYC to Washington DC. Pretty comfortable actually if you don’t mind body-swerving the dazed and confused in Penn Station. A 7am arrival at Washington’s magnificent Union Station is a great start to any day – a glorious sunrise over the Capitol.  A 8.30 breakfast meeting at the NationalGallery of Art was interesting, fun and productive and then the long & expensive taxi ride to Dulles ($65!) to the inevitable ‘sorry, sir, your plane is delayed. We can reroute you through Denver instead of Dallas and it will only add three hours to your journey….’ . Fast-forward to hunger pains in Seat 37F.

Extraordinary country outside: one minute I’m looking down snowy plains, and then the next it’s sunny farmland  People who think the USA is just NY or LA really have no idea what they are missing: it’s not surprising there are ‘weather events’ every day in the USA.  Indeed the day I arrived in NY there was an almighty downpour and immediate minor flooding.  Still, it was better than the chaos I’d left behind. One inch of snow had caused the most almighty disruption in southern England. One friend spent almost 12 hours getting home a couple of dozen miles in his car. Total madness.  I had to catch a late train to London and stay in a hotel at the airport or I’d have never caught the plane.  And watch out for the Hilton that claims to be Terminal 5 – it’s a twenty minute bus rise away which you have to pay for!  Anyways…you don’t want to read about my moans. I would hope you were a bit more interested in our super-duper projects.  So….the big news is that EXHIBITION: GREAT ART ON SCREEN has launched and launched well. It has been an extraordinary effort over the past six months necessitating the dodging of all sorts of slings and arrows with only a few flesh wounds…  On the one hand has been the need to make a great film about the Manet exhibition from the Royal Academy.  In all the contractual haggling and publicity seeking, one must never lose sight of the fact that ‘the film’s the thing’.  The film is what you have to sit in an audience with in ten years time and still feel proud. The film is what needs to be the best film of its type ever made about Manet. We have certainly given it all we’ve got – a long, complicated, expensive edit has followed the shoot in January but I am delighted with how it has turned up.  Many, many lessons were learnt from LEONARDO LIVE. Some stuff I didn’t like because of the ‘live’ nature of the show and some I just felt we could have done better had there been less interference from TV-types who think, wrongly, that our audience has the attention span of a hyperactive child.  This time we have held shots of the paintings much longer, edited interviews to get the best material, made longer & better biographical film inserts, kept the speed of presentation down, etc.  We actually had a press review yesterday where the journalist wrote the film is actually better than going to the exhibition. I don’t want to promote that idea because I want people to go to the galleries and see these wonderful paintings face-to-face but I certainly believe we have made the next best thing.  And of course for those folk in Santa Fe that I am about to see tonight, 99.9% of them would have no liklihood of getting to see the exhibition so this is certainly bringing them into a gallery they would never ordinarily visit.   That leads on to the other area that has been gulping up my time – press & publicity.   We’ve had the idea and we’ve made the film.   All well and good but it might still play in empty cinemas.  That, for us, would be terrible.  (We still haven’t found a sponsor if anyone out there works for a big organisation and would like to help!!)  Thus we worked hard on the press launch recently - which did go very well indeed.  Plus getting the posters out there, the flyers, the social media, and all that.  We had nice pieces in the UK’s Daily Mail and Telegraph and an AssociatedPress report popped up in papers around the world. The Toronto Star and Wall Street Journal have done reports and word is spreading. Ticket sales in the UK are steady and we’ve still 4 weeks to go…..but until I see sold-out cinemas, I remain a ball of nerves.     Every morning and night in my hotels on this trip I find myself checking sales, answering enquiries, and firing off emails…endless, endless emails.

Of course I need to get to my hotel first….and here we are (LATER THAT DAY) …so, back to the joy of American internal flights.  OK, I’ve written before about the lottery of actually getting where you want to go and on time. Today was special: I arrive at Denver airport (half way on my trip) and turn up at the Great Lakes desk to get my boarding pass for the onward Denver to Santa Fe flight only to be told ‘there’s a small problem but we’ll sort it right out’.  American Airlines had issued me a revised ticket ok, all the way through to Santa Fe but hadn’t correctly confirmed to Great Lakes that they would be paying. So my seat is on the screen, I have a ticket in my hand but Great Lakes won’t issue a boarding pass until they receive confirmation from American. ‘No problem, Sir, take a seat and we’ll sort it right out’. Jump forward three hours and the gate is shut, the plane is ready to leave (the last of the day) and I still have no boarding pass. I won’t bore you with my efforts and arguments but suffice to say that in the end there were 5 Great Lakes staff all battling computer codes to issue me a ticket that I was forced to pay $438 for!  Chaotic, and sadly rather typical….  American airlines these days (for sound economic reasons) increasingly use their hubs – and flights get routed between them even if that means flying in the wroing direction for hours.  Worse though is that tickets are issued which involve making connections that are virtually impossible, especially if you care about your luggage or you’re not an Olympic sprinter.  Where possible, drive or take a train.  Where not possible, study the flight schedules very, very carefully.  It’s worth it.    But anyway, here I am for the first time in Santa Fe and has been worth every minute of today’s stress. It is stunningly beautiful and the cinema is packed with people who have come to watch a double-feature of In Search of Mozart and In Search of Beethoven.  And those are two films I am always happy to watch with a few hundred new friends….

 Image from www.thescreensf.com

Sunday 17th of February

A beautiful day in Brighton - clear blue skies, crisp cool air and barely a breeze.  Today was the Brighton half-marathon and thus the first of my three runs to try and raise the funds for a female teacher for Mir's school in remote Northern Afghanistan.  Luckily, despite all the craziness of our Manet film (and other projects) I had found early mornings and late evenings to get some runs & training in so I wasn't too frightened at the prospect of 13.1 miles (unlike my terror of 26.2 miles!) and I filled up on pasta last night and porridge this morning.  Whatever happened, that was going to be burnt off.  Good running shoes help, good running gear helps but most important of all is your music selection...and I'd been working on the perfect running choice.  Sometimes bands like U2 and Oasis are just what you need. Loud.  Anyway, all went well and I finished in a PB (personal best).  I still can't imagine having to do that circuit twice though...but I've got 8 weeks to convince myself and my calfs that I can.   If anyone fancies throwing in a few quid and making the aches and pains worthwhile please visit my justgiving page here.
Image from runbritain.com

Monday 28th January

Sorry it has been a few weeks since the last blog post but it has been extremely busy chez Seventh Art Productions/PhilGrabskyFilms.com

Last night at midnight we finished filming the Manet Exhibition at the super Royal Academy of Arts in London. Editing is proceeding frantically and as you can see from the attached press release, we’ll be in UK (indeed worldwide) cinemas on the 11th April. It has been a Herculean task but last night I stood all alone staring at Manet’s The Railway and felt doubly sure that this is the right thing to do: to bring these works and these exhibitions to people around the world – we know we’ll be seen in France, Chile, New Zealand, USA, Canada and many, many more. There is no way that 99% of those people – you – could get to the exhibition so this is the next best thing. And to have Munch from Norway and then Vermeer from the National Gallery London on the way too – plus others lining up. Wonderful. And very scary financially but hey, no pain, no gain.

The filming has been pretty intense; an awful lot to get through in terms of filming the paintings and filming tracking shots. Also of course there were many pieces-to-camera with Tim (our presenter) and various expert guests. What is not in doubt is that the film is full of interest for anyone interested in Manet, art, exhibitions and Paris in the 19th century. The exhibition had its official opening on Tuesday and we launched the brand EXHIBITION at the same time. Remarkably the RA attracted 500+ journalists and at least half of them took our press release from the press desk. From the response we’ve had subsequently, the press are interested and covering us. Lots of long days keeping on top of it all but it’s been terrible snowy weather so might as well work! When the golf courses re-open, well that will be a different story!

PRESS RELEASE BELOW:

 

 

Coming Soon:

The world’s greatest art exhibitions at a cinema near you

 

Unless it is a blockbuster on the scale of last year’s Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan exhibition at the National Gallery, London art exhibitions are, predominantly, seen by those who live locally. That was, until now.

Award-winning arts documentary maker, Phil Grabsky, has launched a ground-breaking project to connect major exhibitions from across the world with over 200,000 people in cinemas spread across some 30 countries. This global first aims to allow art lovers, old and new, to enjoy, marvel and delight at the works of some of history’s greatest ever painters.

Grabsky’s eponymous PhilGrabskyfilms.com, in association with Seventh Art Productions and BY Experience, has created a series of ground-breaking art events for cinema: EXHIBITION.

Featuring forthcoming major exhibitions of works from artists such as Manet, Munch and Vermeer, each film will capture and explore these important shows and bring a wealth of masterpieces to audiences via high-tech digital cinema technology. The films won’t just cover the exhibitions’ paintings: important questions will also be addressed. What lies behind the exhibition creatively and technically? What does this particular collection of paintings and objects reveal about the artist, or the particular historical period? What do we learn about the presenting institution? Answering them, and many more besides, will be world-renowned art historian and broadcaster, Tim Mar low. Acting as the presenter and guide through each exhibition, Tim is the ideal expert to explain these extraordinary exhibitions and deliver first-rate biographies of the artists. The films combine his in-depth knowledge of each subject with sensitively shot material about the artist and period and are filmed both at the exhibitions and on location.

Grabsky says “I have been driven by the desire to share the thrill of great exhibitions with everyone from Kansas City to Adelaide, Osaka to Naples, and Glasgow to Cape Town. To be launching with three stunning shows from three top-notch venues is an absolute thrill. If you can't get to the RA you have to see the film. And if you are lucky enough to get a ticket to the RA, then you'll want to see the film even more!”

Echoing Grabsky’s comments, Tim Marlow adds “I think that standing face to face with some of the greatest works of art ever made is one of the most powerful experiences in life. ‘Exhibition' gives us the opportunity to convey something of this power in a cinematic format which brings the viewer as close to the real thing as possible. Sometimes, the camera reveals even more than the naked eye ...”

Charles Saumarez Smith, Secretary and Chief Executive of the Royal Academy of Arts, said, “We are very excited to be working with Phil Grabsky and Tim Marlow to produce the film Manet: Portraying Life at the Royal Academy of Arts. The RA’s exhibition will be the first major show of Manet’s portraits, bringing together works from international collections and private lenders to UK audiences for the first time. With thanks to Seventh Art Productions and BY Experience, the film will be screened in cinemas in over 30 countries and in over 5 languages, giving audiences worldwide the chance to see this remarkable exhibition.”

EXHIBITION launches with a trio of films for spring, summer and autumn 2013:

MANET - from the Royal Academy of Arts, London, MUNCH - from the National Museum & Munch museum, Oslo and VERMEER - from the National Gallery, London.

And this is just the beginning. EXHIBITION is already in pre production for major exhibitions in 2014.

All information will be available on participating cinemas worldwide at the official website, www.ExhibitionOnScreen.com

Edouard Manet, The Railway, 1873
National Gallery of Art Washington 

EXHIBITION: Manet: Portraying Life

Manet: Portraying Life will be presented on cinema screens around the world on Thursday 11 April 2013.

This eagerly awaited exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts will be the first ever retrospective devoted to the portraiture of Edouard Manet. Spanning this enigmatic and, at times, controversial artist’s entire career Manet: Portraying Life will bring together works from across Europe, Asia and the USA.

Manet’s portraiture has never been explored in exhibition form, despite it forming around half of his artistic output. He painted his family, friends and the literary, political and artistic figures of the day, giving life not only to his subjects but also to Parisian society. The exhibition consists of more than 50 works; including portraits of his most frequent sitter, his wife Suzanne Leenhoff, luminaries of the period; Antonin Proust, Émile Zola and Stéphane Mallarmé, along with scenes from everyday life revealing Manet’s forward-thinking, modern approach to portraiture. More at www.royalacademy.org.uk  

The film also reveals exclusive behind-the-scenes moments of the exhibition’s preparation, which normally go unseen by the public, and interweaves a detailed, superbly crafted biography of Manet and 19th century Paris. Host Tim Marlow and special guests will look at the craft of one of the all-time great artists.

Manet: Portraying Life at the Royal Academy of Arts is sponsored by BNY Mellon, Partner of the Royal Academy

EXHIBITION: Munch 150



Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1893
(c) National Museum, Oslo, Norway 2013

 Thursday 27 June 2013. In 2013, Norway will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Edvard Munch (1863–1944), a towering figure in modern art. Already hailed as a “once-in-a-lifetime show” global interest is understandably huge, especially after one of his four The Scream paintings recently sold for a record $120 million.

Munch 150 will be co-hosted by Norway’s National Museum and Munch Museum, both in Oslo. This exhibition marks the most ambitious presentation of his art ever. With 220 paintings on show, it brings together the greatest number of Munch’s key works in one place. More at www.nasjonalmuseet.no/en and www.munch.museum.no

The corresponding film will go behind-the-scenes to show some of the process of putting the exhibition together – as well as touring Norway to provide an in-depth biography of a man who lived from the mid 19th century right through to the German occupation during the Second World War. Norwegian and international experts will offer their insights and knowledge to host Tim Marlow.

EXHIBITION: Vermeer and Music: The Art of Love and Leisure

Johannes Vermeer,
A Young Woman Standing at a Virginal, c.1670
National Gallery, London

Thursday 10 October 2013. The National Gallery, London, is offering a major retrospective on one of the most startling and fascinating artists of all – Johannes Vermeer, painter of the famous Girl with a Pearl Earring. The National Gallery has chosen to focus on Vermeer’s relationship with music. It was one of the most popular themes of Dutch painting and revealed an enormous amount about the sitter and the society they lived in. New research, revealed for the first time at this exhibition, shows how his technique and materials affected his works. More at www.nationalgallery.org.uk  

Tim Marlow goes beyond the exhibition to tell the entire story of Vermeer’s life – and, in doing so, shows in fabulous HD detail, many other of the artist’s captivating works. For those inspired by the 2003 film, Girl with a Pearl Earring, starring Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson, this new, cinematic exploration will take their enjoyment and fascination of Vermeer’s life and work to a new level.



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!!

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.

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.

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….

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...

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

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….