Ma-Cry of Silence
Spring Grants 2023 - Post-Production Stage
The Maw Naing / Feature Narrative / Myanmar, South Korea, France, Singapore, Norway, Qatar / 85 min / Original Language: Burmese, Chinese / Interests: Drama
Synopsis
After the arrest of her parent in her village, Mi-Thet is forced to move to Yangon to find work in order to support herself and her young siblings. Her new life in the big city follows a strict labour schedule in a garment factory run by Chinese businessmen who fail to pay all the women workers for two months. At their wit’s end, one of her colleagues initiates a strike movement. Although struggling to cope with the cost of living, Mi-Thet fears the repercussions and hesitates to join the group.
At her dormitory, she gets acquainted with Ko-Tun, who has long been imprisoned for being a student leader of the democratisation movement. Sensing Mi-Thet’s fear, Ko-Tun introduces her to revolutionary books and tells her stories of Myanmar’s history of suppression and uprising. She becomes intellectually and emotionally more mature and eagerly rejoins her fellow workers on strike. However, the factory bosses have other ideas, leading to violent consequences.
Credits
- Director
- The Maw Naing
- Screenwriter
- Oh Young Jeong
- Producer
- The Maw Naing, Oh Young Jeong , Jeremy Chua, Charlotte Guénin, Ingrid Lill Høgtun, Jean-Baptiste Bailly-Maître, Linda Bolstad Strønen, Marie Fuglestein Lægreid
- Production Company
- One Point Zero, Massala, Plus Point One, Potocol, Duo Films, Alpha Violet Production
About the Director
Born in 1971 in Myanmar, The Maw Naing is a multifaceted talent as a poet, artist, and filmmaker. His education in filmmaking includes studies at the Yangon Film School in 2005 and FAMU Film School in Prague in 2008. Notably, he was the first Myanmar filmmaker to present a feature at an international festival in nearly half a century. His short film ‘Again and Again’ (2005, Myanmar), based on one of his poems, won the Special Mention Prize at the Zebra Poetry IFF in Berlin. Another short, ‘Between the Pages’ (2010, Myanmar), is part of the permanent collection at the Fukuoka Museum in Japan. His co-directed documentary ‘Nargis: When Time Stopped Breathing’ (2011, Myanmar and Germany) was screened at CPH: DOX and IDFA festivals, winning four prizes. His debut feature film, ‘The Monk’ (2014, Myanmar and Czech Republic), premiered at Karlovy Vary, winning three prizes. The Maw Naing is currently preparing for the premiere of his second feature film ‘Ma’ in 2024 and working on his third narrative feature, ‘The Guy Who Wanted to be a Nun’.