The films in the thematic programme 20 Years of Capturing Reality in Southeast Asia shed light on the film sector of a multicultural, rapidly changing and deeply conflicted area, while documenting the everyday realities of its people.
The theme is divided into a total of five screenings, the first three of which are short film screenings and two are feature-length documentaries.
Read the full introduction text below.
20 YEARS OF CAPTURING REALITY IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
This year, the programme of Tampere Film Festival offers a glimpse into life in Southeast Asia as the Finnish Foundation for Media and Development (VIKES) and SEA media institutions celebrate 20 years of collaboration. The works in this programme illuminate two decades of filmmaking and bear witness to many aspects of life in this multicultural, rapidly changing and deeply conflicted country.
The collection includes more philosophical and experimental films such as Again and Again, a meditation on the circle of life via the manufacture and recycling of glass bottles, and the feature-length documentary, Song of Souls, which depicts the emotional landscape of the filmmaker by interweaving the songs of a well-known folk singer and some of the mesmerising rituals of his home in Shan State. There is a focus on human rights in films like Dear Daughter, an animation based on the true testimony of a Myanmar woman trafficked into marriage with a man in China, and the portrait of a young transgender dancer in Burmese Butterfly.
There are documentaries that offer a rare glimpse into the lives of illegal ruby miners in Mogok, or of Rohingya refugees in an isolated camp in western Myanmar which journalists are forbidden to enter. Audiences are also invited to behold the ecstatic exertions of the all-female contestants of a full moon weaving competition at a pagoda in Myanmar’s former capital Yangon in A Million Threads and the tender observation of young ethnic Pa-O searching for love and a partner for life in Dating in the Dark. Meanwhile, Behind the Screen steps back in time to tell the story of a famous Burmese film-star couple from the 1960s and 1970s with clips from their films lovingly edited together by their filmmaking son.
The programme will be followed by an in-person discussion with invited guests about the challenges of being a filmmaker in this troubled but fascinating country.
