MEMORY! International Film Festival returns to Yangon

25 October 2017
MEMORY! International Film Festival returns to Yangon

The MEMORY! International Film Heritage Festival, 5th edition, will take place in Yangon from Nov 3 to 12, 2017. In Myanmar since 2014, the Festival is one of the largest cinema events in the country and one of its kind in Asia. Its core programming is specifically focused on worldwide and regional cinema heritage. The event has two prestigious Patrons, multiple award-winning actresses Catherine Deneuve (France) and Grace Swe Zin Htaik (Myanmar), and gathers artists and representatives from both the international and local film industries.
MEMORY! Festival takes place in two main venues: the Waziya Theater for 10 days of screenings, and Mahabandoola Park for a 3-day program of outdoor screenings and activities.
The main theme of the Festival in 2017 is Banned Films from Around the World. Over 20 fiction films and documentaries from across the globe that were banned at various times will be presented alongside a 2-day Conference (Nov 4 and 5)
Within the Myanmar Film Heritage Project carried out by MEMORY! Cinéma since 2016, a new Myanmar classic was restored this year: Pyo Chit Lin (My Darling, 1950), by U Tin Myint, for which a print was miraculously found and meticulously restored in a best-in-class laboratory in Italy. This freshly updated version of Pyo Chit Lin will be part of the Myanmar Film Treasures Section and will be screened at the Opening Ceremony on Nov. 3 at Waziya Theater. Our previous restoration effort, Mya Ga Naing (The Emerald Jungle, 1934, dir. Tin Maung), will also be screened in the Myanmar Film Treasures section of this year’s program.
As to our support for the revived local film industry, this year we are running the 2nd edition of the Myanmar Script Fund, a competition and coaching opportunity for emerging filmmakers, enabling international exposure for 7 film projects selected prior to the Festival. In 2017, the international Jury will be chaired by multiple award-winning and critically acclaimed Myanmar-born director Midi Z.
Two new initiatives are also launched this year: MEMORY! Journalism and Culture, a unique partnership with the Myanmar Journalism Institute. The Festival will host a residency program for some 25 journalism students who will be coached on reporting theory and practice during two weeks by local and foreign correspondents specializing in Cultural commentary, and MEMORY! I Have A Dream for Youth—Film Creation program for Youth during three days at Mahabandoola Park in partnership with myME.
MEMORY! Festival is under the High Patronage of the Ministry of Information of Myanmar:
It is supported by public and private entities, both local and foreign, including the Embassy of France in Myanmar, the Institut français, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the Asian Film Archive, the European Union, Forever Group as the Official Media Partner , Sule Shangri-La as the Official Hotel Partner Hotel, Digital District, Iflix, CFI, Arte, CNC, the Myanmar Motion Picture Organisation, Open Doors / Locarno Festival, Myanmar Journalism Institute, Gulliver Travels, myME, Studio Canal, Gaumont, France 24, Yangoods and Carlsberg.