http://www.irrawaddy.com/in-person/midi-z-a-film-is-not-just-a-film-it-can-be-everything.html
By TIN HTET PAING 9 November 2016
Burmese-born Taiwanese filmmaker Midi Z, who hails from northern Shan State’s Lashio Township, left Burma for Taiwan in 1998, when he was a 16-year-old student going by the name of Thain Kha Min Lwin.
Today, the 34-year-old filmmaker tries to pull into focus the meaning of “home” by revisiting childhood memories in his films that zoom in on the experiences of his family and friends. His characters, in particular, were inspired by the stories of his siblings, who either worked as jade miners in Hpakant or were illegal migrant workers in Thailand.
Of the four feature-length films and two documentaries to his name, Ice Poison (2014) and The Road to Mandalay (2016) are his two most celebrated. The former draws an intimate portrait of two young people in Lashio who try to escape their harsh lives by selling—and even using—drugs, while the latter is more of a love story and tells the tale of two young illegal migrants in Thailand. Both films won several awards at local (Taiwan) and international film festivals. The Road To Mandalay was screened at the historic Waziya Cinema on Monday by Rangoon’s Memory! International Film Heritage Festival.
Knowing that his Burmese audience was not familiar with his way of filmmaking—which incorporates a more realistic and subjective approach to storytelling—the director said he was both excited and nervous to screen the film in his home country, his worry being that the audience would not understand his interpretation of Burmese memories. The Irrawaddy sat down with Midi Z on Tuesday to talk about filmmaking and what inspires it.
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"The Road to Mandalay" broke the 50 year's ban to show in Myanmar theater.
