Synopsis
A middle-aged Buddhist woman in Shan State recalls her friendship with a Muslim man with whom she went on hunger strike as a political activist in 1988. As religious violence breaks out in Shan in 2013, she finds herself caught up in a wave of anti-Muslim feeling. But when her friend’s life is in danger she puts aside her hatred to help him.
Filmmaker's Biographies
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May Myat Noe Aye
May Myat Noe Aye was born in Yangon in 1995. She studied German and business management and worked as a researcher for Enlightened Myanmar before joining Yangon Film School in 2018. Since then, she has worked in various capacities on several of her peers’ films: from sound recordist and/or designer on Kachin Reporter (dir. Sein Yamone Htoo) and Going Home (dir. Chit Moe Pio), to editor on Shin Thandar’s award-winning short documentary Worlds Apart. Other collaborative projects include an animated documentary Beyond the Hatred based on a story from the book ‘Of Peaceful Days …’, as well as a short drama about the inhabitants of an apartment block in Midtown Yangon, which she also helped to mix. Her own journey into directing began with a lively portrait of the well-known Mandalay-based performer Wareru in Burmese Rapper. Ruby Hunters is her second documentary.
Moe Kyaw Thu
Moe Kyaw Thu (born in 1991) is from Mandalay and joined YFS in 2018. He has since been making a name for himself as a cinematographer and/or editor on a number of YFS projects including Shin Thandar’s Lost Boy and Chit Moe Pio’s Mountain Camp. Having completed a course in participatory video, he joined a Travelling Cinema crew on a placement to Kyauk Gyi where he helped members of the community make two films: Hear Our Voice, about the need for more tertiary education opportunities for young people, and Rubbish, which makes a plea for better waste management in the community.
Nyein Chan Myo
Born in Yangon in 1996, Nyein Chan Myo studied journalism and worked at Joosk Animation Studio as an illustrator and animator before joining a YFS course in animated documentary in 2018. He was a member of the team that created Beyond the Hatred, in which a Buddhist woman recalls how she turned her back on a wave of anti-Muslim feeling in her native Lashio to help a Muslim friend. Nyein Chan has since worked on a number of commissioned animation projects for the School’s production arm, Yangon Film Services.