Director: Myanmar Film Collective
Runtime: 71 min
Country: Netherlands, Myanmar, Norway
Language: Burmese with English subtitles
Rating: M18
Awards
BERLINALE DOCUMENTARY AWARD, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL FILM PRIZE
Berlin International Film Festival 2022
HUMAN RIGHTS DOX
Dokufest International Documentary and Short Film Festival 2022
Synopsis
Myanmar Diaries, a visually arresting autobiographical hybrid essay is composed of footage shot by 10 anonymous Burmese filmmakers as a record of their existence following the military junta’s coup in February 2021.Opening with a surreal viral Youtube video of a girl who unintentionally captured the beginning of the coup, the film bears testament to brutal repression and the need for liberty using a range of media forms and a blend of fiction and documentary, expressing the absurd yet painfully real effects of the brutal regime.
Yet the diverse ways in which civilians resist the junta—through mass protests, civil disobedience, local organising and even the formation of anti- junta self-defence militias—show their creative forms of agency among the country’s youth. The fiction segments, while sometimes poetic or allegorical, are always potently straightforward as the raw energy of despair, anger and protest is made clear. Offering an insightful and sobering portrait of contemporary Myanmar, the film celebrates the diversity and resilience of the Myanmese people while raising important questions about its future.
Coming of Rage: Asian Youth & Politics on Screen runs from 2 – 25 June 2023. See the full programme here.
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