Daniel Huang, director and producer of The Amazing China Face Race. Photo / Supplied
Daniel Huang, director and producer of The Amazing China Face Race. Photo / Supplied
Two documentary films screening in Auckland this Sunday will give viewers a glimpse of two very different worlds.
Based on a true story of a soldier taking part in the civil disobedience movement against the Myanmar military junta, The Roads Not Taken is a short film by director Ko Pauk.
The film was made on an iPhone 11 by Ko Pauk, a well-known film director in Myanmar who managed to escape the junta and is now living in a “liberated area”.
Organiser of the film’s Auckland screening, Htike Htike Wut Yi said it will give an insight into what is happening in Myanmar.
“Every day, life is one continuous nightmare in Myanmar with people living in fear of the military rulers under junta rule,” Wut Yi said.
“We in New Zealand are worried for the lives of our families, and wonder each time we get in touch with them if it will be the last time we talk to them.”
She said the film would be the closest thing people outside Myanmar could see what was truly taking place.
“Maybe it will make some people sad, but for us it sends shivers up our spines and tears for our homeland,” Wut Yi said.
She has been leading demonstrations and protests calling on New Zealand to take a stronger stance against the military rulers since they seized power last year, cutting short the country’s transition to democracy.
The documentary is Ko Pauk’s first production since the coup, filmed in the jungles working with members of the revolutionary forces.
It will be screened this Sunday at Gracecity Church in Greenlane as a fundraiser to help with the fight against the junta. Tickets are being sold through the organisers’ Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/mohkhayay
Saw Thandar, Amy Myint and Htike Wut Yi protest against the Myanmar military junta in Auckland. Photo / Lincoln Tan
Over the past two years, Myanmar has decended into chaos with many fighting back against the military after it brutally suppressed peaceful demonstrations.
It started with protesters using small weapons and slingshots, but as the army’s crackdown escalated many sought training from rebel groups in guerilla warfare.
Small cell groups have evolved into more organised units who call themselves the People’s Defence Forces.
Meanwhile, New Zealand Chinese film producer and director Daniel Huang has had his shortened version of a documentary selected for the first NZ Chinese Film Week screened at its launch event.
The documentary, called The Amazing China Face Race centres around a competition where high school students in New Zealand are given a challenge to find and contact a young woman in China with the photo of her as their only clue.
Huang, who has not received any funding for the film, claims to have spent more than $80,000 and a lack of funds was the reason he could not finish editing it into a full-length feature documentary.
“I still need another $20,000 to finish it, and I hope after people see parts of it at the festival, I can get the support to complete the production,” he said.
“My dream is to have this finally broadcast in China and New Zealand, and through it promote better understanding and friendship between Kiwis and Chinese.”
Huang started shooting the film in 2018 and said it was the first transnational documentary shot by a Kiwi-Chinese director.
A large part of the documentary looks at cultural exchanges between youths of the two countries.
“Behind the story of the Amazing China Face Race is the people of the two countries looking for the common beauty of each other,” Huang said.
“The wonderful and touching stories allow the people of New Zealand and China to truly understand each other’s culture and life.”
