Myanmar Diaries

Getting to Know Our Asian Neighbors Through Good Films: Myanmar
Okayama—Sun, 1/12 @18:30 (max 25 ppl). Okayama Premiere!
The Myanmar Film Collective | 2022 | 70 min, Burmese with Japanese Subtitles (no English subtitles)

A hybrid film about life under the regime of terror in Myanmar in the aftermath of its military coup of February 1st 2021, told through personal stories by a group of anonymous young Burmese filmmakers. A moving testament that human beings are capable of being creative even in an extremely oppressive condition.

2022 Berlinale (Documentary Award), MoMA Doc Fortnight, Hot Docs, and many other festivals.

Myanmar Diaries is built up of short films by ten young anonymous Burmese filmmakers, combined with emotionally harrowing citizen journalism documenting the junta’s brutality, as well as courageous resistance to it.

The film shows how Myanmar goes from the military coup to nation-wide protests and civil disobedience, to barbaric repression where thousands of peaceful protesters are imprisoned and murdered, to a growing popular armed revolt against this monstrous military junta.

Moving organically back and forth between documentary and fiction, the film is a seamless whole in which the filmmakers find innovative ways to keep their protagonists anonymous.

An extremely urgent film in a time when Myanmar has almost disappeared from the news headlines around the world. It is extremely moving to see how people can be creative even in the most difficult conditions.