Press enquiries:
Jane Warne, Communications Manager
M: 07890 236 289
Email: communications@abingdon.org.uk
Jeremy Taylor, Master in Charge of the AFU
01235 849002 M: 077 886 13472
Email: jeremy.taylor@abingdon.org.uk
Press Release
8th October 2007
‘Eating Gravel and Stones’
Living with disability in Cambodia. A documentary premiere from the
Abingdon School Film Unit. National Film Theatre 2, BFI Southbank, Friday 16th
November, 3.30pm & 4.15pm.
The premiere of Gravel and Stones is the culmination of the Abingdon School Film Unit’s
(AFU’s) most ambitious project to date. The 30-minute documentary focuses on the impact of
disability on people in Cambodia, a country that, after thirty years of war, has one of the
highest rates of disability in the developing world. There are in excess of 40,000 people
limbless as a direct result of landmines and UXO, as well as tens of thousands more who are
disabled in a variety of ways because of grinding poverty, illness, and a range of causes arising
from conflict-generated devastation. Four pupils from Abingdon School, aged between 16 and
18, filmed the documentary during an 18 day trip to the country last December. The project,
which took three years from planning to completion, promotes the work of Landmine
Disability Support, a small UK NGO.
The film captures the experiences of three disabled people who are living with the
consequences of their impairment - poverty, discrimination and exclusion - but facing up to the
challenges with humour, resilience and determination. Kosal, a teenage polio victim, earns
money by singing at the local market, Um Sopha is a 22 year old woman who despite losing
both her legs through disease, dreams of becoming a dancer and Chiang Yin is a 50 year old
landmine victim. Chiang Yin, despite losing both his legs during the war and being forced into
an arranged marriage by the Khmer Rouge, has learned to walk on his hands so he can scratch a
living from the soil with a wife he has grown to love. The documentary takes its title from a
phrase used by the young boy Kosal, who, when asked to describe how he copes, said, “I am
just putting up with it, living with the problem for the time being. It’s like eating gravel and
stones."
There is a cultural stigma to disability in Cambodia. The Buddhists view it as a sign that the
disabled person's ancestors did wrong, and regard it as part of the burden one carries as a form
of karma. Partly through the influence of this general view, it remains law that no one with a
disability can become a teacher in Cambodia, although there are signs that this will change.
Nevertheless, a disabled person can still be regarded as non-productive and a waste of precious
resources in a country where food is scarce and basic survival is already difficult. In the film,
Kosal tells how one day his step-father threw his bowl of rice away and shouted at him that a
dog with four legs deserves food, but a dog with two legs is useless and doesn't deserve any, so
he should not even think about being fed.
The pupils from the AFU who made the documentary were Edward Hofman, Tom Wakeling,
Andrew McGrath and Ben Hollins. Ben, who is now an upper sixth form pupil at Abingdon,
says of his experience, “It was both chilling and wonderful; chilling because we were
surrounded everywhere we went by mementos of an unimaginable war and genocide;
wonderful because we at last saw for ourselves that behind its shocking past and difficult
economic situation, there is a people who can be warm, quick-witted and hard-working and
who will accept us, without prejudice, into their homes and tell us their histories with honesty
and candour. We all forged friendships that will not be easily forgotten."
The documentary was made by the boys under the experienced eye of Michael Grigsby, the
renowned documentarist who also attended Abingdon School. Speaking about the film,
Michael says, “Gravel and Stones is a natural - if ambitious - extension of the work encouraged by
the AFU. Namely, for students to find a voice that is their own which gives space to - and
engages with - people around them wherever they are."
It is hoped to take the film to audiences across the UK and Europe, via entries to a number of
national and international film festivals.
The AFU, together with the pupils, parents, staff and Old Boys of Abingdon School, raised
all the necessary funds to send the expedition to Cambodia. Supporters included well-known
animator Geoff Dunbar, who presented an evening of his films and donated a signed copy of his
and Sir Paul McCartney’s new book, High in the Clouds. Other fundraising events included
concerts, a dragon boat competition, a whole school sponsored walk, a re-enactment of the
1966 World Cup Final and a special show at the Lyric Theatre in London.
ENDS
Notes to editors
Gravel and Stones will be shown on Friday 16th November at 3:30pm and 4:15pm in National Film Theatre 2,
BFI Southbank. There will be a reception for both screenings (3pm for the 3.30pm screening and 5pm5.30pm for the 4.15pm screening).
Attendance is by invitation only. Please contact Jeremy Taylor via phone 01235 849002 or 077 886 13472 or
email: jeremy.taylor@abingdon.org.uk
An abridged version of the documentary is available on DVD from Jeremy Taylor.
About the AFU
The AFU was established by Abingdon School to allow pupils, aged between13 and 18, to make their own
short documentary or animated films under the guidance of a team of industry professionals led by the
renowned documentarist Michael Grigsby and a teacher at the school, Jeremy Taylor. Together with visiting
tutors Jonas Mortensen (cinematography), Mikkel Eriksen (sound design), Arvid Eriksson (editing) and
animators Joanna Harrison and Geoff Dunbar, they encourage students to adopt the highest standards, and to
develop their ideas through a process of careful research and reflection that seeks to clarify at every stage the
aims and intentions of their films. The Unit has so far produced forty-two short films, six of which have been
screened at the NFT in London and a further two at the British Film Festival in Dinard, France. AFU films have
also won first prize at the Oxdox International Film Festival (2005) and the New Shoots Festival (2006).
About Landmine Disability Support, LMDS
LMDS aims to provide disabled people, in less economically developed countries and in situations of postconflict, with support, especially the means to start and run their own businesses. The charity takes a holistic
view of disability and aims at social inclusion. It offers disabled people and those around them a chance to show
that they can lead useful, productive and independent lives as members of their communities. For further
information, please contact Rodney Mearns (Chairman), LMDS, 01235 525387 or
mearnsr@lmdsupport.org.uk