With hopes of encouraging their compatriots in their struggle for democracy, a group of Burmese living in Japan is making a film denouncing the military junta that controls Myanmar (Burma).
They hope to distribute DVDs of the film in Myanmar prior to general elections slated for this year.
The production is led by Htay Thit, who was involved in filmmaking in Myanmar as an actor, set decorator and makeup artist.
The 52-year-old is director of "Kanashii Irawaji" (Sorrows of the Irrawaddy river), which portrays a sister and her brother who lose their parents in floods that lashed the Irrawaddy delta in May 2008.
When a cyclone pounded southern Myanmar and inundated the delta, the military government initially refused to accept offers of international humanitarian assistance.
The delay in aid operations is believed to have greatly added to the number of casualties.
The 90-minute film blames the government for the people's plight, depicting the suffering of the two children and the tragic fate awaiting the boy, who is forcibly taken by the military to serve as a soldier. Htay Thit wrote the script.
Back in the 1980s, Htay Thit developed a distrust of the military when he took part in the production of a movie commissioned by the junta.
While working on a scene in which a military officer was helping villagers, he heard an elderly local man mutter, "It's a lie."
After the pro-democracy movement was crushed by the army in 1988, Htay Thit was called on to join the production of a film depicting anti-government protesters as villains.
Unable to bear life under the junta, he fled to Japan in 1991. It was only in 2008 that he was granted a special permit to reside in Japan.
Following the 2007 crackdown on anti-government demonstrations led by monks and ordinary citizens, Htay Thit produced his first DVD in Japan. It combined short stories with footage of news reports.
The Irrawaddy film is his second. About 80 Japan-based Burmese answered his call for assistance and joined the production.
None of the "actors" had previous experience in movie production, but one of his assistants had been involved in film editing in Myanmar.
The group started shooting in May, mostly on weekends.
In the fall, they shot some scenes on the bank of the Edogawa river in Nagareyama, Chiba Prefecture, where trees grow thickly along the flow of the muddy water.
In one scene, a man dressed in a traditional Burmese longyi sarong asks an officer in a military uniform about relief supplies. The officer bluntly replies, "I've arranged it."
Htay Thit watched as the actors delivered their lines, while his assistants carried microphones and reflector boards around them.
The director said he chose the location after he traveled past the river and felt "the landscape was just like my motherland's."
The production has been strongly supported by the resident Burmese community in Japan.
Some 10,000 Burmese live in Japan. The number is far smaller than in Thailand, which has refugee camps, or in the United States, Australia and European nations that actively accept refugees.
But when a rally calling for democracy in their motherland is held in Tokyo, it can attract up to 1,000 people, compared with 100 to 300 in the United States and elsewhere.
Maung Maung, general secretary of the National Council of the Union of Burma (NCUB), said the Burmese democracy movement in Japan was "much stronger than (in) other countries." Based in Thailand, the NCUB is working for democracy in Myanmar.
Some observers say, however, that it is an ironic reflection of the fact that the number of refugees recognized in Japan is far smaller than in other countries.
In Japan, only several dozen people obtain official recognition as refugees each year.
The difficulty has prompted those desperately wanting refugee status to come out in the open and engage in pro-democracy activities to show they are seeking asylum for political reasons, which pushes the number of rally participants up, they say.
Members of Htay Thit's group believe the film has the power to encourage their fellow citizens.
"To change our country, those of us who are outside must take action," one actor said.
The film will be screened in Tokyo this year with Japanese subtitles. It will also be broadcast on the Internet by the Democratic Voice of Burma, a multimedia organization based in Oslo.
Despite the authorities' tight control, the group hopes to smuggle DVDs of the film into Myanmar so that ordinary Burmese have an opportunity to see it.
"There must be people in the military who regret the current situation," Htay Thit says. "I hope they will see it, too."
Source:http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY201001050129.html
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