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A Million Threads (2006)

A Million Threads

Synopsis

Every year on a full moon night in November, thirty women gather at Shwe Phone Pwint Pagoda in the Pazundaung district of Myanmar's former capital Yangon to take part in a competition known as Matho Thingan. Their task is to weave the finest robes for the temple's Buddha images. All robes must be finished by dawn otherwise they are considered 'stale'.

Cheered on by large crowds and an orchestra of pulsating drums and high-pitched oboes, the teams of dedicated female competitors work the handlooms frenziedly back and forth in a feat that celebrates Buddha's own foster mother, Gautami, who is said to have woven her son a robe in a single day.

Director's Biography

Thu Thu Shein is a filmmaker and producer from Third Floor Film production, based in Yangon. She began her career as a video editor before discovering her passion for documentary during the first Yangon Film School filmmaking workshop in 2005, where she was cinematographer on A Day with Aye Nan Lin (dir: Eh Mwee). Her own directorial debut, which she also edited, was A Million Threads, about the women contestants in a weaving competition, which won the top award in the Heinrich Boell Foundation’s Documentary Film Competition in 2007. The film’s feminist-anthropological approach, contrapuntal editing and the poetry of its images have endured, ensuring that it continues to be programmed at film festivals, universities and museums around the world. After attending YFS, Thu Thu Shein took a Master’s degree in cinematography at the FAMU in Prague. In 2011, she and fellow YFS alumnus Thaiddhi co-founded Myanmar’s first film festival, Wathann, which soon became a key event and resource for independent filmmaking in Myanmar.

Screenings

October, 2008
Vision du Réel
Nyon, France
August, 2010
Douarnenez Film Festival
Douarnenez, France
September, 2010
Thai International Short Film Festival
Bangkok, Thailand
October, 2010
Doi Saket Film Festival
Chiang Mai, Thailand
November, 2010
exground film festival
Wiesbaden, Germany
May, 2011
Vientianale International Film Festival,
Vientiane, Laos
June, 2011
Open City London Documentary Festival
London, United Kingdom
July, 2011
Traumzeit Festival
Duisburg, Germany
October, 2011
International Festival Signes de Nuit
Paris, France
November, 2011
Festival International du Documentaire Étudiant
Saint-Ouen, France
March, 2024
Close-Up Cinema
London, United Kingdom

Director's Filmography

2005
Homesick

Cinematographer

5‘0‘‘

2005
A Day with Aye Nan Lin

Cinematographer

12‘39‘‘

2006
A Million Threads

Director/Cinematographer/Editor

15‘20‘‘

2006
Just A Boy

Cinematographer

13‘5‘‘

2006
The Uninvited Guest

Sound Recordist

13‘49‘‘

2007
A Farmer's Tale

Sound Recordist

18‘18‘‘

2007
The Merry Widows of Nam Mun Village

Cinematographer

22‘22‘‘

2008
Saving Sankar

Editor

15‘45‘‘

2008
Sun Behind The Clouds

Cinematographer

13‘13‘‘

2009
A Bright Future

Cinematographer

15‘21‘‘

2010
5 Beats Before Death

Director

28‘0‘‘

2010
Flash

Director/Cinematographer

5‘3‘‘

2011
Nights

Director/Cinematographer

5‘0‘‘

2011
Dear Young Lady, a sheet of Records

Director/Cinematographer

3‘13‘‘

2012
The River

Director/Cinematographer/Editor

4‘14‘‘

2014
Unity in Diversitiy

Producer/Director/Cinematographer/Editor

30‘0‘‘

2016
Ruby Land

Producer

26‘0‘‘

2019
Cobalt Blue

Producer

27‘0‘‘

2022
Evening Clouds

Producer/Editor

18‘0‘‘

Pictures