Movie Month

The Wathann Film Festival is coming up and will include a special screening of “The Monk”

THE IRRAWADDY / YANGON

September is here again and that’s good news for fans of independent movies, who can look forward to the fourth incarnation of the Wathann Film Festival taking place in Yangon towards the end of the month.

One highlight for festival-goers will be the opportunity to see a special screening of “The Monk,” the new feature-length film from director, painter and poet U The Maw Naing.

“The Monk” premiered at the 49th Karlovy Vary international film festival in the Czech Republic in July and has since been selected to show at festivals in Doha, Qatar, and Busan, South Korea, as well as at the Gothenburg festival in Sweden and the Sakhalin Festival in Russia, among others.

The movie is about the evolu- tion of a young novice who faces new choices and dilemmas after becoming a monk.

Mixing social issues with a dash of humor and magic realism, it is U The Maw Naing’s latest artistic bid to get “under the skin” of everyday life in Myanmar.

For the director and artist, one phenomenon of interest is how people relate to each other. He believes that long-time repression has meant that communication between people has become problematic in this country, in particular and interesting ways.

For one, he says, “We are so familiar with using double-meaning words and expressing our feelings indirectly. Our reality is influenced by this way of living.”

Of course, there is also often a gritty side to reality in Myanmar, and there was plenty of that during the shooting of the movie in a remote rural area where villagers joined in as actors, extras and workers, and the problem of no mains electricity was solved by running a generator with a 500-meter cord so the noise couldn’t be heard on the set.

Screenwriter U Aung Min, who also works as a medical doctor and appears as such in a minor role in the movie, said the main character in the movie, U Dahma, is based on a real character he once knew.

The prolific U Aung Min, who says he is now working on two more movie scripts, has also played a large part, with many others, in incubating the Wathann Film Festival, which started in 2011. It takes place this year at the Yangon Gallery between Sept. 24 and 28. For more information and updates, see www.facebook.com/ wathannfilmfest/

Black, White, Red

THE IRRAWADDY / YANGON

UAung Myint is known as the father of contemporary art in Myanmar, and his painting series “Mother and Child” made him the first national artist to win the Asean Art Awards in 2002.

He has become an inspiration for younger artists, not only for his paintings, but also for his performance art and installations.

In his current and 14th solo show in Yangon, titled “14 A.M,” U Aung Myint is featuring a new series of paintings called “Faces” and some installation art work. In the 18 paintings that he completed in 2013 and 2014, the artist offers a reflection in black, white and red colors on the trauma of a changing populace that is opening up to the world for the first time in decades.

“I’m afraid to use other colors because I don’t know how to use them. If I use them wrong, I would feel bad,” the 68-year-old artist said.

He is drawn to black and white because he believes the colors are attractive and easily convey a message. He sometimes uses red for composition.

“I’m not a good painter,” he added.

Nathalie Johnston, director of exhibitions at Pun+ Projects, which organized the show, said she felt ‘‘very honored’’ to be showing his work.

U Aung Myint has staged more than 60 shows in Myanmar and several foreign countries, including Japan, Singapore, Germany, the Netherlands, Great Britain and Finland. His works were also exhibited and collected by the Guggenheim Museum in New York.

His latest show will be on view until Sept. 20 at TS.1 Gallery on Lanthit Jetty, Seikkan Township.