The Directors’ Guild of Japan has called on authorities in Myanmar to release filmmaker Maung Thein Dan who has been detained and jailed pending a trial, according to the guild.

Maung Thein Dan, who has lived in Japan since a child, was arrested while in Myanmar in April. He has been charged with supporting anti-government protests by selling footage that documented anti-coup protests to a Japanese journalist, according to a Variety report.

The journalist, Kitazumi Yuki was arrested in Myanmar and detained for a month. He denies either receiving content from Maung Thein Dan or paying for it.

“Daisuke Tengan, the president of Japan Institute of the Moving Image, Daisuke Tengan, described Maung Thein Dan, a graduate of the 18th class of the JIMI, “as loving Japan and working to become a bridge between the two countries using movies.”

Variety has previously reported on the arrest in June and detention of Ma Aeint, who produced “Money Has Four Legs,” a satirical feature about no-budget filmmaking and film censorship that recently played at the Udine and Locarno festivals. She is currently in Insein Prison, held in a section for political prisoners.