Burma VJ — Reporting from a Closed Country

Center for Documentary Studies Filmmaker Award 2009Full Frame / Working Films Award 2009Full Frame Grand Jury Award 2009

NEW DOCS

How do you fight a brutal military dictatorship? Over the years, the cold-blooded rulers of Myanmar have fired on their own citizens during non-violent protests, placed opposition figure Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest, and closed the country to the world’s view. When Buddhist monks began to march against the regime in September 2007, the Democratic Voice of Burma’s staggeringly brave journalists used small digital camcorders to document the burgeoning demonstrations and subsequent violent repression. DVB activists smuggled the tapes out of the country for worldwide distribution. Anders Østergaard combines this startling on-the-scene footage with evocative reconstructions from the point of view of “Joshua,” one of the DVB team in exile, to produce a riveting story of an intrepid people defying their oppressors.  NK

Director

Anders Østergaard

Producers

Lise Lense-Moller, Fredrik Gertten, Torstein Nyboe, Helle Ulsteen

Editors

Thomas Papapetros, Janus Billeskov Jansen

Cinematographers

Simon Plum, Burma VJs

Release Year

2008

Festival Year

2009

Country

Denmark

Run Time

85 minutes