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Capturing the truth of Burma's struggle with people power
In a summer that's filled with action-packed blockbusters and the biggest Hollywood stars, there's one film that stands out as unique.
Burma VJ has already captured the attention of the highest office in the UK after it became the first film to premiere at 10 Downing Street in a private screening hosted by the Prime Minister's wife, Sarah Brown.
Shot on small, undercover handycams, the film reveals the powers of citizen journalism and resonates with the situation in Iran.
"Burma VJ is certainly about citizen journalists as a phenomenon, and what one person who's there at the right time can do to set the world agenda," says its Danish maker, Anders Ostergaard.
"This is not just going on in Burma, you are seeing it today now in Iran. The coverage of the demonstrations that are going on there is being sent around the world and viewed on YouTube.
"So it's very much a film about this new phenomenon that technology is making the biggest stretch. It empowers the people to have access to all these things."
Unlike anything else you'll see in a cinema this summer, Burma VJ was made under the most challenging circumstances. Freedom of speech in Burma is almost non-existent after democratic rule ended in 1962. Its citizens are kept under a tight rein because the country, which is officially known as Myanmar, is under the strict control of a military junta, governed by the State Peace and Development Council and led by general Than Shwe.
The repressive regime ensures that the government-controlled media suffers from censorship, while many foreign press are banned from entering the country.
Anyone who steps out of line and opposes the government risks their lives, facing torture and life imprisonment. Yet despite this, Ostergaard managed to gather a handful of undercover local video journalists (VJs) from Democratic Voice of Burma, a non-profit organisation providing uncensored news about the country, led by "Joshua", to compile coverage for his film.
Filmed over the course of three years, the documentary brings audiences close to the situation in the closed country as they document events, including the violent mass protests of September 2007 by the Burmese public and monks, who are normally apolitical.
For Joshua, it was always the urge for change that spurred him to get involved.
"If we want to be free, we have to do something," he says. "I was a political activist before I became a journalist. I was just 16 years old. We are not only trying to change the regime, but also trying to build up a democratic society. So, in the battle to fight for and build up a democratic nation, media is the most important to take back and win."
It may be hard to keep up with Burma's daily happenings, but one person who hits the Western headlines is Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the opposition to the country's military government, who has been under strict house arrest since 1989. Now awaiting trial for violating the terms of her lengthy house arrest, he could face five years in prison and the case has caused global outrage.
"History had taught us that sometimes the impossible is possible," says Ostergaard.
"Even Burma's political allies are beginning to put pressure on the country.We never give up hope, what's the alternative to hope?"
Burma VJ is out on Jul 14. www.burmavjmovie.com and www.burmanet.org
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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