Brighton filmmaker wins big at BAFTAs

Phil Grabsky’s film My Childhood, My Country – 20 Years In Afghanistan won the Best Single Documentary award at Virgin Media Bafta Television Awards.

The documentary follows the life of a boy in Afghanistan over two decades, telling his story and that of his country in the years that followed 9/11.

Filmed and directed by Phil Grabsky and Shoaib Sharifi, it focuses on the life of Mir Hussein – a mischievous and playful boy of eight when the filmmakers first met him two decades ago, who over the course of the documentary became a man with children of his own and at 27, had never lived in a nation at peace. 

Phil Grabsky and Shoaib Sharifi - 20 Years project, Seventh Art Productions

Produced by Seventh Art Productions in Brighton, this compelling and timely documentary is the final part of a trilogy telling Mir’s story. 

In 2004 The Boy Who Plays On The Buddhas Of Bamiyan began Mir’s story as an eight-year-old living in a cave with his family, followed by 2011’s The Boy Mir - capturing Mir’s growth into a young man. 

In this final part, Mir’s 20-year transition from boyhood to manhood is told in full. 

This profile captures Mir’s whole story - including marriage, children, poverty, and heartbreak - culminating in a move to start a new life in Kabul as a cameraman with hope for his, and now his family’s future. 

August 2006 - MY CHILDHOOD, MY COUNTRY - MIR IN HIS VILLAGE - ┬®SeventhArtProductions

Phil Grabsky said: “We are delighted to win this most prestigious of awards. 

“There are so many great documentaries made and to be picked out in this way by one’s peers is special for me and all my wonderful colleagues at Seventh Art. 

“More importantly, I hope it encourages folk to watch the film at seventh-art.com and to remember Afghanistan and to continue, in whatever small way, to help those poor people who are just the same as you and me but suffer on a daily basis”.