On February 1, 2021, Myanmar’s tentative, fragile democracy came to an abrupt and brutal end, with the military stepping from the shadows to reassert its rule. The junta instantly cast out a free press, political opposition and any pretense of accountability to Myanmar’s 54 million citizens. The coup unleashed a reign of terror and brutality, forcing dissent underground and into the shadows.

To the rest of the world, Myanmar became a closed society, and the world and its news cycles inevitably moved on. But inside, citizens defied the junta in nation-wide protests and acts of civil disobedience, including this film.

Myanmar Diaries emerges from this vortex of resistance and terror. It mixes footage from citizen journalists who document horrific violence against citizens, including the arrests of thousands of Burmese from all walks of life who turned out to protest. They record, too, civic defiance that ranges from residents who bravely bang pots at their windows to protest the arrest of a neighbor, children who plead with the military not to take away their parents, to the beginnings of an armed resistance training in the hillside.

The film meshes these scenes with fictionalized clips from ten anonymous young Burmese directors inside Myanmar, that portray in haunting imagery the psychic toll of their country's loss of basic human rights.

Screening to be followed by Q&A with producer Corinne van Egeraat.