We’re at the halfway point of this year’s festival, and so far the 2016 edition has been hugely successful with local audiences, students, and local filmmakers.
Encounters with filmmakers
Michel Hazanavicius gave a masterlass on Nov. 5th 2016, not surprisingly, to a full house of Myanmar producers, aspiring directors, and curious visitors.
A very popular screening of Diamond Island was followed by a Q&A with director Davy Chou, who encouraged local filmmakers to be more forthcoming and daring with their projects. Pascale Ferran introduced her critically acclaimed feature Bird People, and joined Catherine Deneuve in presenting Jacques Demy’s masterpiece The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.
At an unprecedented outdoor screening, director Michel Hazanavicius introduced his Academy Award-winning film The Artist.
Perhaps one of the top highlights this year, Myanmar-born Taiwanese director Midi Z’s most recent feature Road to Mandalay was screened to an enthusiastic audience, followed by a lively Q&A with the director.
Régis Wargnier, no stranger to working in Southeast Asia, presented his Award-winning epic feature Indochine. This afternoon Paul Grant will introduce Genghis Khan, a rare biopic from the Philippines directed by Manuel Conde, followed by a presentation of the recently restored classic by Usmar Ismail Tiga Dara by project producer Alex Sihar.
The Creative Archive
A round table entitled “Creative Artists and Archves” featured a dialogue between directors Michel Hazanavicius, Davy Chou, and Pascale Ferran, moderated by Dr. Howard Besser.
In addition to the screenings and encounters between directors and actors, this year includes a series of talks by international presenters. Pascale du Plantier introduced some aspects of managing the Gaumont catalogue, while Dr. Paul Grant presented recent research on the history of Cebuano cinema.
Theo Stojanov’s talk explored the intersection between archival ethics and creativity. A rare 35mm screening of North-Korea/France co-production Moranbong was followed by history of this revolutionary classic presented by Jérémy Segay. The creative use of archival research was also the topic of Thong Kay Wee’s look at the relationship between landscape and film in Singapore.
Today, the closing talk will be given by professor Suresh Chabria, entitled “Cinema and Collective Memory in Indian Film.”
Myanmar-born director 
Road to Mandalay tells the story of a couple of migrant workers illegally crossing the border into Thailand to look for work and to escape civil war. This disturbing experience, shared by millions, is situated as a contemporary drama that unfolds with the assured strength of a masterpiece. Road to Mandalay is a powerful and tragic love story, told in an arresting visual style.
Before moving to Taiwan to train as an artist and filmmaker, Midi Z was born and raised in Myanmar. His graduation short Paloma Blanca (White Dove) was screened at numerous film festivals. In 2009, he was selected as the leading screenwriter and director at the Taipei Golden Horse Film Academy organized by Hou Hsiao-Hsien, who also produced Midi Z’s short film, The Hua-Xing Incident. In 2011, he made his first feature-film Return to Burma, which was selected for screening at the Busan International Film Festival and premiered in Europe at the prestigious Tiger Awards Competition section of the 2012 International Film Festival of Rotterdam.
