The Boy Mir

The Boy Mirhttp://the-boy-mir.blog.co.uk/en-EUhourly82000-01-01T12:00+00:00The Boy Mirhttp://the-boy-mir.blog.co.uk/http://data5.blog.de/design/preview/16/c8fba733c9b697204cd5133cb01036_160x200.jpgThe Boy Plays on...http://the-boy-mir.blog.co.uk/2008/07/09/this-is-a-post-to-check-if-the-new-site--4425978/2008-07-09T18:57:09+02:00 Phil Grabsky and colleague Shoaib Sharifi have just returned from the latest Afghanistan trip. Mir is now 15 and becoming a real man. He now regularly works at the coal mine instead of going to school, and his dad is constantly discussing his future and the prospect of marriage. We are about to begin editing all the material we have filmed since 2002, which is a lot of footage! We hope to then create some further up to date clips. If you would like to receive email updates on how Mir is doing and exclusive details on the film's release just email <a href="mailto:lgibson@seventh-art.com">lgibson@seventh-art.com</a> and we'll add your email address to our mailing list. You can also check back here for regular photo updates. Since the fall of the Taliban, Afghanistan has seen many changes but one thing remains constant: this is still a turbulent and troubled country. Many thousands have been killed in attacks, largely by a resurgent Taliban. Drug lords, overseeing a booming opium trade, control private armies in the south and east and NATO currently has some 40,000 troops still in the country. Due for completion in 2011, (the 10th Anniversary of the fall of the Taliban), the film looks at the day-to-day life of the Hussain family from an intimate and close-up perspective. Re-using footage from the original film (shot in 2002 & 2003 – some of which was used in the recent Oscar-winning Taxi to the Dark Side) and footage from every year since, the narrative will be driven by Mir’s journey into adulthood, when he will be expected to put childish ways behind him and begin the difficult process of becoming a man. This is hard enough for any child, but Mir has to face this challenge in modern Afghanistan. Phil Grabsky and Shoaib Sharifi have been back and forth to Afghanistan, recording a unique picture of recent life there; the initial elation at the fall of the Taliban; the growing dissatisfaction at the slowness of change; the arrival of suicide bombers; the ever-present scourges of drought, hunger, poverty, warlords, drugs trafficking…and, in the middle of all this, one remarkable boy and his resilient family full of humour, optimism and hope. Much more than the original film which deliberately focussed solely on Mir’s world, this new film puts Mir’s life much more clearly into context. What has happened in Afghanistan since the November 2001 fall of the Taliban? What difference has America and its’ allies had on this country? Is there still a chance that Mir will end up as a soldier or opium farmer, and, if so, can this cycle ever really be changed? The film will look in depth at these wider implications on the country’s current climate, whilst at the same time providing a unique portrayal of life, full of poignancy, full of humour, in today’s Afghanistan. <a href="http://the-boy-mir.blog.co.uk/2008/07/09/this-is-a-post-to-check-if-the-new-site--4425978/#comments">Comments</a> Phil Grabsky and colleague Shoaib Sharifi have just returned from the latest Afghanistan trip. Mir is now 15 and becoming a real man. He now regularly works at the coal mine instead of going to school, and his dad is constantly discussing his future and the prospect of marriage. We are about to begin editing all the material we have filmed since 2002, which is a lot of footage! We hope to then create some further up to date clips. If you would like to receive email updates on how Mir is doing and exclusive details on the film's release just email lgibson@seventh-art.com and we'll add your email address to our mailing list. You can also check back here for regular photo updates.

Since the fall of the Taliban, Afghanistan has seen many changes but one thing remains constant: this is still a turbulent and troubled country. Many thousands have been killed in attacks, largely by a resurgent Taliban. Drug lords, overseeing a booming opium trade, control private armies in the south and east and NATO currently has some 40,000 troops still in the country.

Due for completion in 2011, (the 10th Anniversary of the fall of the Taliban), the film looks at the day-to-day life of the Hussain family from an intimate and close-up perspective. Re-using footage from the original film (shot in 2002 & 2003 – some of which was used in the recent Oscar-winning Taxi to the Dark Side) and footage from every year since, the narrative will be driven by Mir’s journey into adulthood, when he will be expected to put childish ways behind him and begin the difficult process of becoming a man. This is hard enough for any child, but Mir has to face this challenge in modern Afghanistan.

Phil Grabsky and Shoaib Sharifi have been back and forth to Afghanistan, recording a unique picture of recent life there; the initial elation at the fall of the Taliban; the growing dissatisfaction at the slowness of change; the arrival of suicide bombers; the ever-present scourges of drought, hunger, poverty, warlords, drugs trafficking…and, in the middle of all this, one remarkable boy and his resilient family full of humour, optimism and hope.

Much more than the original film which deliberately focussed solely on Mir’s world, this new film puts Mir’s life much more clearly into context. What has happened in Afghanistan since the November 2001 fall of the Taliban? What difference has America and its’ allies had on this country? Is there still a chance that Mir will end up as a soldier or opium farmer, and, if so, can this cycle ever really be changed? The film will look in depth at these wider implications on the country’s current climate, whilst at the same time providing a unique portrayal of life, full of poignancy, full of humour, in today’s Afghanistan.

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