OUR STORY

It all started over a cup of coffee with my good friend Chandler Vandergrift.  Together we decided to embark on what we thought would be a 6 month project to film a short documentary about a war brewing in Southern Thailand that soon turned into a 5+ year journey to the heart of the conflict - an experience that changed our lives forever.

A sudden change in Thai Politics in Dec 2004 lead us to the idea of creating an investigative film. Before we knew it- we were on a train down to the South of Thailand ready to explore the conflict ourselves. The experience was far beyond the newspaper clippings, and short tv news that we were accustomed to. We were right there, head first, into a land different from the rest of Thailand, where people needed a chance to speak, and where innocent citizens were being killed everyday.

We quickly realized to cover a story such as this one- you need to invest time in getting to know the local people, in doing the research needed to tell an accurate story, and the importance of following the story over time to see how conflict changes. Chandler and I are pleased to be able to share our experiences with you and to take you on our journey. Let's look past the beautiful beaches of Thailand and discover a country on the brink of civil war. 
 The more we learned about the crisis in southern Thailand the more we began to feel a responsibility to tell the world what was happening. There is some hope for the region, but very little if people dont understand what is driving the conflict.

On May 19th, 2010, Chandler Vandergrift was filming the increasingly violent redshirt protests from the frontline  in Bangkok, and was hit by an M79 grenade and nearly died.  While we are overwhelmingly happy that he is recovering well, this event has also changed the film's structure (as we are including the event into the film) and the amount of work needed to finish it. CNN bought exclusive rights to the only footage shot of Chandler- footage we now have to buy from CNN to use in the film. 

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE

A LAND APART is an exploratory view of the conflict, giving all sides a chance to speak. The audience will have an opportunity to learn more about insurgent movements and the motivations behind them, as well as come to see some of the failed tactics employed by the military and central government to quell the insurgency. Key politicians in Thailand also get a voice- including exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra- in an exclusive interview that has never been released on television. Most importantly, the stories and perspectives from the locals most affected by the violence are discovered in a personal way.

As we enter the 21st Century, many Americans/Canadians remain concerned about violence and insurgencies around the world, and for the first time in generations, the concept of Conflict Resolution has become a talking point in the mainstream news. With numerous small-scale Muslim uprisings in Asia (from the fragile peace in Aceh (Indonesia) to the Southern Philippines (where US troops are currently operating), many  Americans/Canadians are looking to learn from these smaller conflicts for lessons that will help find exit strategies in the larger battles of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq.

It is with sincere hope that this film will, help in finding a solution to the violence that is looking increasingly intractable in Thailand. To date, no long-form documentary film exists that explore the conflict in Southern Thailand.

WHAT WE NEED & WHAT YOU GET

We need funding to help pay CNN for the footage needed from Chandler's tragic attack. We need funds to help with final editing costs, color correction, and audio engineering- we will be the first to admit that our audio needs work!  We are also fortunate to have the opportunity to use an amazing musician who has recorded music played by elephants in Thailand, but we need funding to cover her (very reasonable) liscense fees. 

HOW ELSE YOU CAN HELP

Please spread the word of our project - post it to your FaceBook page, twitter about it, send an email out to your friends- create a song about it based on lyrics from a Lady Gaga and post it on Youtube... whatever you can do to help, we would be honored and thankful.