º»¹® ¹Ù·Î°¡±â ¸Þ´º ¹Ù·Î°¡±â

14th DMZ Docs(2022)

I AM DOCU



Letter to San Zaw Htway

Petr LOM

  • Netherlands, Norway
  • 2021
  • 26min
  • 12 +
  • DCP
  • color

KP

Synopsis

Letter to San Zaw Htway is a short participatory documentary: in the aftermath of the military coup in Myanmar on February 1st 2021, the filmmakers invited the loved ones of Burmese artist and activist San Zaw Htway to write letters to him. This film is composed of their words.

Review

When the Myanmar military took power in a coup d'état on February 1, 2021, pro-democracy movements broke out in various places, supported by the whole world. This film is a letter to a person named San Zaw Htway, remembering Myanmar¡¯s resistance in 1999 in Myanmar in 2021. He was arrested in 1999 as a thought convict and served until 2012, making collages with plastic bags and food packaging. He disobeyed the vested interests by making art out of garbage, opposing the view that defined it as garbage. The many voices of 2021 remember his bright eyes, laughter, and passion, and understand that he resisted power by not allowing hatred or resentment to inhabit him. The Myanmar movement in 2021 will never be defeated as long as it remembers its history of not repeating the military.

Director

  • Petr LOM

    Petr Lom was born in Prague in 1968, grew up in Canada, and is now based in The Netherlands with his Dutch wife Corinne van Egeraat. He received his Ph.D. in political philosophy from Harvard and was Associate Professor at George Soros¡¯ Central European University in human rights and philosophy. In 2003, he became an independent documentary director and producer specializing in human rights film. His award-winning films have been broadcast in over thirty countries and screened at more than three hundred film festivals around the world including Sundance, the Berlinale and IDFA.​ 

Credit