SYNOPSIS
Poetry is immensely popular in Burma/Myanmar, a country emerging from years of dictatorship and isolation. In the past, poetry was a way to endure and resist tyranny. Today, there are more online poets than bloggers. The stories and poems in Burma Storybook circle around Maung Aung Pwint – the country’s most famous dissident poet alive today - as he waits for his long-lost son to return home from exile. His family symbolizes resistance and grace, an answer to the poet’s question “how can our hearts possibly be healed?”
CAST & CREW
Petr Lom
Director
Producer(s)
Corinne van Egeraat
Script
Corinne van Egeraat, Petr Lom
Director of Photography
Petr Lom
Music by
Geir Jenssen/Biosphere
Sound
Jeroen Goeijers
Edit
Petr Lom, Dorith Vinken, Stefan Kamp
Production company(ies)
Production Company Corinne van Egeraat 152 lekstraat 1079EZ Amsterdam, NL
Petr Lom
Petr Lom was born in Prague in, grew up in Canada, and is now based in The Netherlands with together with his partner and producer Corinne van Egeraat. He received his Ph.D. in political philosophy from Harvard and was Associate Professor at George Soros’ Central European University in human rights and philosophy. In 2003, he became an independent documentary director and producer specializing in human rights film. His award-winning films have been broadcast in over thirty countries and screened at more than two hundred and fifty film festivals around the world including Sundance, Berlinale, Locarno, Rotterdam and IDFA.
Filmography
Bride Kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan (2004), On a Tightrope (2007), Letters to the President (2009), Back to the Square (2012), Ana Ana (2013), Burma Storybook (2017).
Corinne van Egeraat
Director
Corinne van Egeraat
An independent filmmaker and creative producer with a background in theatre, she specializes in projects on creative freedom of expression. In 2011-12, she produced the Self-Portrait Video Project, a year-long workshop on autobiographical storytelling with young Egyptian artists, coaching them to make short films, one of which went on to the 2012 Berlinale. This project culminated with the collaborative feature documentary Ana Ana (“I Am Me” in Arabic) that was nominated for best film at IDFA 2014 and released in the cinemas in the Netherlands. In 2015-2016, she produced Framing the Transition, a human rights photography essay project with twelve young Burmese photographers.
Filmography
Lord of the Jungle (2000), Cowboys in Kosovo (2004), Speeding on the Virtual Highway (2007), Bridging the Gap (2008), Dislocated (2009), Ana Ana (2013), Burma Storybook (2017).
