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