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.