Forum of Independents - Competition 2014 / The Monk / Barma, Czech Republic 2014
Zawana enters a Burmese monastery filled with the misgivings and uncertainty that come in part with the inexperience of youth. When the superior, U Dahma, falls ill, the youngster takes up an unexpected challenge. This sensitive film, enhanced by its unique setting, was made in a Burmese-Czech coproduction.
Zawana is confronted with several paths that open out defiantly before him, and he has to choose which one to take as the next step on his life’s journey. The youth enters a small village monastery somewhere in Burma, led by its superior U Dahma. Zawana and the other novices are, as befits their age, playful and disobedient, and they find it hard to abide by the laws of the monastic robe. However, when U Dahma, who hasn’t been running the monastery with a particularly firm hand, falls ill, the young man realises that perhaps it’s time to step out resolutely onto one of the paths and surrender to the school of life – and not only because his superior’s death could mean the closure of the monastery. This fragile film draws the viewer into a remarkable environment, intelligibly portraying a vulnerable and crucial period in the protagonists’ lives without superfluous dialogue. The story moves away from aspects of meditation and even spirituality, focusing more on universal values and desires, whose fulfilment itself presents a difficult challenge.
93 min / Color, DCP
World premiere
Director The Maw Naing
/ Screenplay Aung Min
/ Dir. of Photography Tin Win Naing
/ Editor Zaw Win Htwe
/ Producer Vít Janeček
/ Production FAMU – Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts
/ Coproduction The Maw Naing
/ Cast Kyaw Nyi Thu, Thein Shwe, Han Nawe Nyein, Moe San
/ Contact Negativ
/ Distributor Studio FAMU
The Maw Naing (b. 1971, Myingyan, Burma) is a Burmese poet, performer, artist and filmmaker. He studied Burmese literature and IT; he also attended the Yangon Film School and took part in the English-language AP Program at Prague’s FAMU. His first poetry collection came out in 2004, combining surrealist images with a commentary on the recent political upheavals in his native country. Poems he has written often form part of installations, performances and films (e.g. the documentary Again and Again, 2008), that have won prizes and continue to be the focus of interest all over the world. He made several shorts at FAMU; his first feature-length documentary Nargis: When Time Stopped Breathing (2012) won several awards at international festivals. The Monk is his feature film debut.
Studio FAMU
Klimentská 4, 110 00, Praha 1
Czech Republic
Phone: +420 224 810 329, +420 222 310 527
Fax: +420 222 310 692
E-mail: [email protected]
Negativ
Ostrovní 30, 110 00, Praha 1
Czech Republic
Phone: +420 603 360 661
E-mail: [email protected]
Vít Janeček
Film Director, Producer
The Maw Naing
Film Director / Producer
Aung Min
Screenwriter
Marta Švecová
Festival Organizer, Film Institution Rep., Sales Agent
Jan Richtr
Film Crew, Film Crew, Sound Editor
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