March 6, 6-8PM in EV 1.605
The Yangon Film School (YFS) is a Berlin-based nonprofit organisation created to support a burgeoning community of young media workers in Myanmar. YFS brings together experienced filmmaking tutors from around the world and young Burmese men and women, some with no prior experience in media, for regular film trainings in Yangon, Myanmar on a wide range of filmmaking aspects. YFS places particular emphasis on the documentary, but fictional filmmaking is also taught. The goal of YFS is to found the first permanent media centre in Myanmar with a steady film curriculum.
Mila Aung-Thwin is a Canadian documentary filmmaker, producer and activist. He is co-founder of Montreal-based documentary organization EyeSteelFilm. Aung-Thwin has produced the feature documentaries Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam, Rip: A Remix Manifesto (IDFA audience Choice Award Winner), Up the Yangtze (Genie award winner) and Last Train Home (IDFA Feature Documentary Winner), among others.
Aung-Thwin will introduce the films. Discussion will follow after the screening.
THE FILMS:
LIKE FATHER LIKE SON (Pe Maung Same, 2006), 14 min
Rama performer Zaw Oo is at a crossroads. In order to prevent his centuries-old Rama troupe from dying out, he must train the next generation of players. But how can he recommend the life of a poor Rama performer to his own son?
TYRES (Kyaw Myo Lwin, 2013), 30 min
A tire recycling workshop in South Okkalapa is a site of multiple uses and multiple deaths, for this is the place where defunct tyres are transformed from their original shape and use, and are reborn into new and completely different lives. Filmed in black-and-white, this observational documentary explores a community of tire cutters and recyclers, young and old, male and female, as they create with their super-sharp blades, careful eyes, and skillful strokes.
THE BARBER (Anna Biak Thaw Mawi, 2015), 25 min
Barber Ko Tin Htun’s clientele includes both the high and mighty and the poor and humble. In between snipping and shaving, singing and chatting with his customers, he ponders the vagaries of life in Myanmar during the last half century – and counts himself lucky to be his own boss.
-Sarika Joglekar, Marco Meneghin, and Tanvi Rajvanshi.