This is the personal blog of London photographer, backpacker, traveller Mark Coughlan. The intention of the blog is communicate updates from my personal website and on my photography projects and travels both in the UK and worldwide. When backpacking the obscure places on earth, this blog will be continually updated with images and thoughts from the road. [Read more about me]

Monday 3 August 2009

Burma VJ: Reporting From a Closed Country

I was fortunate to see this wonderful documentary at the ICA in London on Saturday - admirable, courageous, brave and deserving to be screened to a wider audience. If you get an opportunity try and see it and show your support.

Official Trailer

Evidence of military brutality smuggled out of Burma is raw and compelling.

The smudged, smuggled footage of recent turbulence in Iran and China that has been circulating on the web gives a topical edge to Burma VJ, Anders Ostergard’s eye-opening and inspiring look at an underground cadre of guerilla film makers who have risked their lives to document the freedom struggles of people in ‘Myanmar’.

In summer 2007 a group of monks there led a rebellion, triggered by price hikes for fuel, against the dictatorship that has ruled the nation for four decades. Immediately, foreign news reporters were banished and the internet was censored. A brave group, calling itself The Democratic Voice of Burma, armed itself with digicams to record demonstrations, give voice to protestors, and to capture evidence of military brutality.

That footage, smuggled to Norway via Thailand, is raw and compelling. The story of how it was sneaked out is worthy of the best thrillers. Burma VJ is crucial testament to the will of a suffering people to ensure the world does not forget them.

Sukhdev Sandhu, Telegraph.co.uk


Offical website: http://www.burmavjmovie.com/

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