Oldenburg Honors Myanmar Artists in Exile with 2024 Tribute as 1st Line-Up Highlights are announced

Tribute for Na Gyi and Paing Phyoe Thu

Director Na Gyi, and his wife, Myanmar Academy Award winning actress Paing Phyoe Thu, may not be household names in the West, but in Myanmar the filmmaking couple are not only famous but infamous.

Since day one of the February 1, 2021 Military coup, the celebrity couple were on the streets opposing the Military Junta. Within days, peaceful demonstrations in Myanmar swelled to hundreds of thousands of people. An image captured by freelance photographer Anonymous of Paing Phyoe Thu holding up the three-finger salute - a symbol from the “Hunger Games” series, which became the leitmotif of the democracy movement - went viral and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.

On April 3^rd, under Section 505 (a), a warrant was issued for their arrests for “using their popularity” to encourage civil servants to participate in protests opposing the military junta that had seized control of the government. Facing indefinite prison time and torture, the couple were forced into hiding. But they remained defiant. “There’s no turning back”, stated Paing. “We decided we’re going to do this, and we will fight to the end”.

On March 3^rd, one month earlier, the Oldenburg International Film Festival received a submission of a film from Myanmar titled “What Happened to the Wolf?”. Directed by Na Gyi and starring Paing & fellow actress Eaindra Kyaw Zin as two terminally ill patients who meet and fall in love, although not political in nature, the topic of LBGTQ+ in and of itself was still a cause for persecution in Myanmar.

The World Premiere of the film screened in Oldenburg in September, and its Trailer received over 1 million hits on the Festival’s Facebook page. Eaindra received the 2021 Seymour Cassel Award for Best Actress but was unable to attend to receive it as by then she had been imprisoned already for 6 months for her celebrity participation in the demonstrations, and with no word of her condition.

As death threats mounted for them and their fellow artists, journalists, and rebels, Na Gyi and Paing Phyoe Thu made the difficult decision to flee their homeland of Myanmar in order to survive. And after months of journeying through dangerous territory, once safe and from an undisclosed location in a nearby country, they co-founded The Artists Shelter to support Myanmar Artists in exile.

The 2024 Tribute will include their first feature film collaboration, 2019s “Mi”, a film adaptation of a famous Myanmar novel by Ki Aye in which Paing stars as an irreverent & carefree young woman dying of tuberculosis. Set in the 1940s, the film was a huge audience hit and garnered critical praise but was shockingly shunned by the Academy for its provocative authenticity.

Their second feature film collaboration, 2021s “What Happened to the Wolf?” will once again screen in the Tribute, as will their three short film collaborations: “Guilt”, “Our Turn”, and “My Lost Nation”.

Having remained in contact with the Festival Director throughout, and after over 2 years in exile, the filmmaking couple had recent hopes of receiving travel documents and were looking forward to attending Oldenburg as the 2024 Tribute Honorees. Unfortunately, as of today, they still remain in a perilous limbo of bureaucracy and international politics.

And although they are unable to attend in person this year, the festival will still honor Na Gyi & Paing Phyoe Thu with the 2024 Honorary Tribute Award. We feel passionate about their artistry & all they stand for and would love to use our platform to support awareness of their work. That also includes the extraordinary and ongoing efforts of The Artists Shelter, which they co-founded.