A TRIANNUAL BILINGUAL MAGAZINE FROM OUR NEIGHBORING COUNTRY DISCUSSES MYANMAR’S FILMS, FILM INDUSTRY, FILM AUDIENCES AND FILM STUDIES
TEXT: NAPAT CHARITBUTRA
PHOTO COURTESY OF 3-ACT MAGAZINE
(For Thai, press here)
A triannual bilingual magazine from our neighboring country discusses Myanmar’s films, film industry, film audiences and film studies.
“3-ACT” was founded by 25-year-young film director and festival organizer Moe Myat May Zarchi and screenwriter and film director Aung Phyoe, who have planned to publish only nine issues of ‘3-ACT’, three per year. The inaugural issue, January 2018, themed ‘Cinema is not dead but not alive’ opens with the article ‘Hatching Burmese New Wave Cinema’ in which Tin Htet Paing, assistant editor of independent news agency Myanmar Now, attempts to define Myanmar’s New Wave Cinema.
This year marks the centenary of Myanmar’s film industry which commenced in 1920 and enjoyed its golden era from the 1950s to late 1970s. Under the rule by the military government, Burmese film had never returned to its glory. The writer notes that nowadays commercial films flood the market, satisfying the investors while losing artistic merits, lacking proper screenwriting and, more importantly, rarely provoking the audiences’ thoughts nor introducing them any new perspectives.
Another important issue is, predictably, the government’s censorship. After 2005, the Yangon Film School (YFS) has become a major breeding ground for filmmakers. Most evident is the increasing role of documentary filmmakers in straightforward presentation of reliable information to the Burmese public, provided that their news agencies are not completely trustworthy. For example, the actual incidents in the Nargis cyclone national crisis were captured in the documentary film “Nargis – When Time Stopped Breathing”, which was instantly banned.
Since 2010, when Myanmar became parliamentary constitutional republic, the cinematic art has revived. Film festivals have been held and serve as good platforms for expansion of filmmakers, beyond YFS alumni. Video rental stores also give new generation of filmmakers more access to international films.
‘3-ACT’ magazine is, likewise, an outcome of this rebirth of Burmese film, and its content is highly serious and educational. In addition to insightful text, there are such visual columns as photo essay, etc. As previously mentioned, Burmese films are now open for our exploration–so is ‘3-ACT’. Download your free copy of the past four issues of ‘3-ACT’ at: Here