Documentary
Through our Healing Wounds project Asia Justice and Rights worked closely with local women-led organisations and survivors in Myanmar to document stories of survivors, build survivor movements and facilitate dialogue to address past human rights violations.
We produced two animations with the purpose to share the long-term experiences of war and conflict of ethnic women survivors in Myanmar. The videos do not only represent one specific woman’s story but rather a story of the collective experience of women survivors that were developed by our team after listening to the stories of many women over the years while conducting survivor work in Myanmar and the region.
Synopses
Decades of Conflict from Then ’til Now: The Story of Naw Po and Her Village follows the story of Naw Po, a woman who has lived through years of conflict. One peaceful morning on February 2001, the military staged an illegal coup. While the military presence is all too familiar for her, she never wishes her children and grandchildren to suffer like her. Raided and robbed of their peaceful life, Naw Po needs to stay in her village and defends her people.
Survivors Finding One Another: Survivor Support Groups follows a story of Lway Thu Thu, a victim and a survivor of human rights abuses. She was once and ordinary villager who then trapped in the middle of military conflict. She met Ah Dim, a survivor just like her, who deeply shared her feelings.
Story
Decades of Conflict from Then ’til Now: The Story of Naw Po and Her Village shares the story of Naw Po, a woman who has lived through years of conflict and solely hopes for peace for her family in the future. Thousands of Karen people living in the refugee camps in the Myanmar-Thailand border and still facing many challenges for years up until now — needing humanitarian assistance and emergency relief for the Karen brothers and sisters in those areas. We created this video to acknowledge their struggle and suffering.
Survivors Finding One Another: Survivor Support Groups shares the story of how survivor support groups can help survivors to find hope and heal together. There was still no justice, no recognition of truths, no hope for justice and reparation for the victims of human rights violations in Myanmar. There is currently no formal space or institution provided by the government for survivors to meet, connect, learn and share their stories with their community–as the culture of impunity persists for many decades. At the end, survivors opt to build their own community where they share the experiences of one another, creating hopes for healing–and maybe even to end the culture of impunity altogether.
Discussion Guide
We invite you to screen “Decades of Conflict from Then ’til Now” and “Survivor Finding One Another” with your family, friends, community, organisations and youth groups to help us spread the stories of the dark chapters in our history and to honour the bravery of those who are willing to share them.
We are glad to provide the documentaries and the screening kit (press release, posters) which might help you gain better understanding about the issue as well as the full picture of the conflicts and how massive the impact has been felt until today. If you are interested, please let us know the details of your screening plan, link us to any blog posts and show us some pictures (if you have watched it), and do tell us about how it goes and what touches you the most.
A study guide that contains information of the human rights issues in Burma that was depicted in the documentaries will soon be launched as a companion piece — the guide will also explain our process of developing the animated shorts. It is our hope that “Decades of Conflict from Then ’til Now” and “Survivor Finding One Another” can be the first step in putting the spotlight back on the hardly spoken history and spark many discussions for the time to come.
We’ll get back to you soon with the details of how to watch or to screen these documentaries once we get the inquiry from the form below. We have provided a sample program here to help you plan the screening.
Watch
If you want to see the short documentary, please fill out the form on the right and we will contact you shortly
Contact Us
For further inquiry, please send email to contact@asia-ajar.org