Happy Days

Synopsis

A charming, uplifting portrait of the director’s irrepressibly upbeat next-door neighbour, 13-year-old Shoon Lei.

Director's Biography

Wai Mar Nyunt graduated in fine art from Yangon University in 1998, and has since created a number of installations and video art pieces. She attended YFS from 2007 to 2009 where she directed the delightful short documentary Happy Days. Wai Mar has since created two YFS-produced films for development organisations: My Positive Life about FXB Myanmar’s psycho-social support group for people living with HIV, and Sun Behind the Clouds (2008) about World Concern-trained health workers in Kachin State. In 2009, she received a scholarship to attend the Czech School of Performing Arts, FAMU, in Prague where she co-created an experimental film with a Finnish filmmaker, Dragon Beach, as well as making her graduation film about the 2010 elections in Myanmar, Unfinished Painting. She shared her directing skills with her peers during the YFS train-to-teach programme from 2012 to 2016, and subsequently taught at filmmaking workshops held by the independent production company DONE at several sites in Myanmar including Loikaw in Kayah State.

Screenings

October, 2009
CPH:DOX Film Lab, Copenhagen Documentary Film Festival
Copenhagen, Denmark
August, 2011
Brazil International Disability Film Festival
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
August, 2021
Seoul International Women’s Film Festival “Feminist Collectives”
Seoul, South Korea

Director's Filmography

2003
Shwedagon by Night

Director

20‘0‘‘

2007
Happy Days

Director

12‘49‘‘

2007
Hotel Chef

Director

3‘17‘‘

2008

20‘0‘‘

2008
Sun Behind the Clouds

Director/Editor

13‘13‘‘

2010
Rice – Towards a Better Future

Sound Recordist

32‘17‘‘

2010
Happy Soul

Writer/Director

8‘0‘‘

2010
The Dragon Beach

Co-Director

18‘0‘‘

2014
Tea Shop in Downtown

Director/Producer

25‘0‘‘

2015
Unfinished Painting

Director/Producer

6‘0‘‘

2022
The Mute

Director/Producer

28‘0‘‘

Pictures