Burma Today: Short and Precious Films
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Live in the festival studio
Guests:
Aleksandra Minkiewicz, director of the Yangon Film School, Sai Naw Kham ("32 Souls")
Host:
Katarzyna Borowiecka
Five Flavours:
Jakub Królikowski
Translator:
Anna Szegidewicz
About the event
For over a dozen years, the Yangon Film School has been a space for conversations about the identity of the country and its very diverse society, made up of numerous ethnic groups - from which many students of the School come from. In documentary and feature films, students and graduates record stories from the changing reality - both from large centres and small local communities. Their productions are invaluable material that brings previously unheard voices to a wide audience at home and abroad.
The guests of the studio are Aleksandra Minkiewicz, who has been the director of the School since 2016, and Sai Naw Kham, a graduate of the School.
Sai Naw Kham
He grew up in Tangyan Township in Myanmar’s northern Shan State. Moving to Yangon in 2007, he first studied chemistry and worked for three years as an editor for Charr Music Production. His first brush with filmmaking came when he filmed his uncle’s donation to a Palaung village; the Palaung continue to fascinate him and he hopes to one day make a feature-length film with them. Since joining YFS in 2014 he has directed a documentary, The Crocodile Creek. In 2015 he photographed a short YFS drama, Book Lover. In 2020 he co-directed omnibus film "Mekong 2030" with four other directors from South-East Asia.
Aleksandra Minkiewicz
Director of Yangon Film School in Burma since 2016. Expert with years of experience in managing projects in media development, peace building, women's empowerment and democracy support in developing countries (Afghanistan, South Sudan, Burma). A graduate of Cultural Studies at the European University Viadrina in Germany and postgraduate studies at the Centre for Intercultural Relations run by the Institute of Oriental Studies at the University of Warsaw. She has been professionally connected with Burma since 2012, where she led projects in support of independent media for many years. From 2012 to 2017 she worked with the Human Rights Human Dignity International Film Festival in Yangon.
