Synopsis
A son dissects his parents’ marriage – they were film icons in 1960s Myanmar. It turns out the heartrending scenes they acted out on the silver screen are a pretty accurate reflection of their real lives. While the camera slides across the glamour photos from their heyday, the filmmaker looks on, entranced. He grapples with the incredible fame of his parents. Now that he is reconstructing their relationship, he sees the old film footage through different eyes – as if it might contain the answers he didn’t get as a child, when his parents separated. This merging of family history and film excerpts creates a magical mix of fact and fiction, or – as the son calls it – “the real and the celluloid wedding.” The son’s public revelation of how things went wrong is an emancipatory act, as divorce is still a big taboo in Myanmar. But the filmmaker doesn’t publically jump onto the barricades. Rather, he keeps things personal, showing the pain caused by the divorce, both for him as a child and for his parents. He also shows how, 50 years ago, ambitions in Myanmar in the area of film were in line with Hollywood: the first film his parents appeared in together was called Sweet Sixteen.
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Credits
Director: Aung Nwai Htway
Cinematography: Su Su Thaing Win, Aung Nwai Htway, Khaw Ko Ko, Khin Maung Khaw
Screenplay: Aung Nwai Htway
Sound Recordist: Kyaw Ko Ko, Sann Maw Aung, Su San Zaw Win, Myo Min Khin
Categories
Documentary, Family Life, Society, Women, Arts & Culture, Children, History
Technical Details
Duration: 35‘0‘‘
16:9 Anamorphic
DVD PAL
English Subtitles
2012
Director's Biography
Aung Nwai Htway is from Yangon. He began his career working for the NGO Population Services International (PSI) as an editor. Having joined Yangon Film School in 2006, in 2007 he tried his hand at directing for the first time with the short documentary A Piece of Eden, about a young boy suffering from muscular dystrophy. Developed with YFS, his 2012 documentary Behind the Screen is his most personal film and tells the painful story of his parents’ divorce, both of whom were Burmese film stars in the 1960s and 70s. This moving work won awards at Yangon’s Wathann Filmfest and at Salaya International Documentary Film Festival in Thailand; it also screened to acclaim at the prestigious International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam.
Awards & Nominations
September, 2012 March, 2014 Screenings
Director's Filmography
Director/Editor
15‘56‘‘
Editor
25‘0‘‘
Editor
23‘15‘‘
Director/Cinematographer/Sound/Editor
22‘0‘‘
xDirector/Editor/Screenwriter
35‘0‘‘
Director/Cinematographer/Editor
25‘0‘‘
Editor
72‘0‘‘
