焦點單元｜時代的隱喻：名為緬甸的真實

緬甸獨立電影在極少資源、極大限制下，透過在地影展、電影教育機構等途徑串連，逐漸發展出以「集體」為貌的電影社群。然而，這個國家多次政治動盪，對一切影響甚鉅，令現實日趨複雜。

本單元以近年新作為主，往年舊作為輔，展映26部跨類型的緬甸電影，柔和的電影語言中，總藏著多層次的隱喻，訴說著難以直接描述的故事，如心情日記、前線紀錄、未來狂想、音畫實驗等等。創作者們皆以獨特視角與語彙，記錄外在現實或訴說內在感受，時而直接，時而抽象，所謂「真實」在眾多作品中瞬息而現，是回應時代的行動，也成為時代的隱喻。

在這樣的角度與脈絡下進行反思，就積極意義來說，電影不只是電影本身，而更接近名為緬甸的真實。

TIDF專文｜時代的風景，緬甸的真實

特別感謝：瓦旦電影節

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【2024 TIDF】焦點單元｜時代的隱喻：名為緬甸的真實 Focus Programme｜Metaphor of the Times: The Reality Named Myanmar

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Yangon the City Where We Live

This film offers a unique window into Yangon, a city undergoing immense change. Through narrated poetry and juxtaposed images from Yangon’s urban landscape, this documentary depicts a city that holds the hopes and aspirations of a diverse population.

Train

A journey of self-discovery on the Yangon circular train.

Three Strangers

Gwa To, a transgender expects relationship impermanence, assuming women will prefer "real" men. Ma Soe is disillusioned with marriage from her father's drinking. After a period of courtship, the two live together as a couple. Their bond is tested when Gwa To brings home Phoe Htoo, a two-month-old boy seeking adoption.

Ten Years Myanmar

As the latest instalment of the Ten Years franchise, the omnibus film Ten Years Myanmar is a collective effort from five Myanmar filmmakers to speculate on the future of the country that has been torn apart since the coup in 2021.

The Clinic

In an impoverished outskirt of Yangon where the healthcare needs of the neighbourhood is great, a doctor tries to deal with the patients' problems and also his own.

'This is one of my very first films, I had a coworker, Jeu, who used to do photoshoots at weddings. He followed me around with a camera. And a Yangon Film School student, The Maw Naing, who started learning editing.

Green Is Liberated Color

Adolescents abandon their daily routines and don uniforms in an effort to oppose the terrorist administration. Green is a hue of liberation.

Again and Again

Life is a cycle. When we die, we are reborn into a new life. This is a film heading slowly toward ‘zero point zero’.

Comradeship (rough cut)

The People's Defense Force attempts to retrieve a comrade's body from a battle during Myanmar's Spring Revolution. Two members lose legs, leading to a heart-wrenching funeral with an empty coffin.

Losing Ground

In Yangon, dreams end with a military takeover in February 2021. Amid darkness, a film emerges, capturing the struggle through written words, recorded voices, and images—a portrayal of losing ground.

'I grew up in Yangon. In February 2021, my dreams came to an end. My mother said: 'Son, wake up. The military has taken over the country.' The days got darker. The window in my narrow room and the piece of sky I watched seemed to be the only freedom left. I wanted to say something about this new undercurrent in my life.' - LG Anonymous LG Team

Journey of a Bird

After a military coup in Myanmar on February 1, 2021, a Burmese teenager, initially depressed, decides to join a friend's media group for revolution, reigniting hope and steering his own path.

'Before the coup, I was just a filmmaker who loved making and watching films and at that time I was trying to make my first feature film. And then a coup happened, the film industry couldn't run anymore. All Burmese people's hopes and dreams were ruined.

Focus Programme | Metaphor of the Times: The Reality Named Myanmar

Despite the minimal resources, significant restrictions, and repeated political upheavals, the independent film scene in Myanmar has gradually developed as a unique community with creative vitality through local film festivals and film education institutions.

This programme features 26 diverse films from Myanmar, dating from 2009 to 2024. Beneath the soft cinematic language lie layers of metaphor. These films tell stories that are difficult to express directly. Filmmakers convey inner feelings or document external reality in the form of personal diaries, frontline records, futuristic fantasies, audiovisual experiments, and more. Direct or abstract, the so-called 'reality' flashes fleetingly in numerous works, serving not only as responses to the times but metaphors of the times. Thinking under such context, in a positive sense, cinema is not merely cinema itself, but closer to the reality named Myanmar.

TIDF Article｜LANDSCAPE OF THE TIMES: REALITIES OF MYANMAR

Special thanks to the Wathann Film Festival.