Burmese filmmakers encounter survivors of Myanmar's worst natural disaster in living memory

Awards

nargis - when time stopped breathing - Awards

Festivals

New release! Take a look at this short film about the genesis of the second Wathann Film Festival in Yangon.
Made by students of the Yangon Film School in Myanmar in cooperation with the people who founded the festival - all YFS alumni. Supported by medico International, Germany. 17 mins. Watch it and enjoy!
WATHANN: Myanmar's first film festival from Yangoon Film School

Visions du réel - International Filmfestival in Nyon Switzerland, april 2010 | EBS International Documentary Festival in Seoul, Korea, august 2010 | Festival des Films Du Monde in Montreal, Canada, august 2010 | CPH:DOX in Copenhagen, Denmark, november 2010 | IDFA in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, november 2010 | Festival International du Film d’ Environnement in Paris, France, november, 2010 | WATCH DOCS. Human Rights International Film Festival in Warsaw, Poland, december 2010 | One World Festival in Prag, Czech Republic, march 2011 | DocFilmFestival in Gdansk, Poland, may 2011 | International DOK.Fest in München, Germany, may 2011 | Fernsehworkshop Entwicklungspolitik in Arnoldshain, Germany, may 2011 | LIDF International Documentary Festival in London, Great Britain, may 2010 | Festival du Film Humanitaire in Paris, France, june 2011 | Take one action Filmfestival in Scotland, 2011 | Film South Asia Festival in Nepal, september 2011 | MIFF International Filmfestival in Mumbai, India, february 2012 | Wathann Filmfest in Yangon, Myanmar, september 2012 | 5th Annual Myanmar Film Festival in Los Angeles, USA, october 2012 | Myanmar Freedom Film Festival in Copenhagen in Copenhagen, Denmark, october 2012 | Chopshots Documentary Film Festival South East Asia in Jakarta, Indonesia, december 2012

First ever screening in Myanmar for Nargis – when time stopped breathing

Nargis – when time stopped breathing finally received its long-awaited Myanmar premiere during the 2nd Wathann Filmfest in Yangon on 8 September, 2012. The festival’s Burmese name means ‘rainy season’. After outings at 18 film festivals all over the world, this Burmese festival screening also marked the first time that the filmmakers’ real names were mentioned in the credits. Since the film had been shot illegally in the delta, it was deemed safer not to mention the creators’ real names at previous screenings in order to protect them. Strident reforms undertaken by Myanmar’s government at the beginning of 2012 convinced the team behind Nargis that the film could at last be shown in Myanmar where it was made. After the show, which was billed as a ‘special screening’, many of those involved in the making of the film, including one of the film’s directors Pe Maung Same, editor Myo Min Khin, cinematographer Thaiddhi, German mentor Ulrike Schaz and British producer Lindsey Merrison, came to the front of the packed auditorium of the festival’s Maha Santi Sikha monastery venue to discuss this first feature-length documentary made by Burmese filmmakers. After fielding questions from an audience numbering over 500 people, the festival organisers and film crew asked that one minute’s silence be observed in memory of all those who lost their lives in the cyclone.
Wathann Filmfest – second edition, 5. – 9. September 2012, in Yangon: http://www.wathannfilmfest.net/

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