New Delhi - A film on a Burmese video journalist's reporting of the September 2007 uprising against the country's military dictators was Saturday named winner of the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam's 'Joris Ivens' prize.
'Burma VJ – Reporting from a closed country', by filmmaker Anders Østergaard, which tells the story of how a Burmese video journalist reported during the September 2007 protests sparked by a sudden rise in the cost of fuel, was also awarded the 'Movies That Matter Award', for the best documentary on human rights and dignity.
The Burmese journalist whom Anders Østergaard follows in his film is a video reporter of the Oslo-based Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), who secretly filmed the protests which later came to be known as the 'Saffron Revolution' after the Buddhist monks' leading role in the uprising.
According to Toe Zaw Latt, Chief of DVB's Chiang Mai bureau, the journalist later fled to neighbouring Thailand after he was detected by authorities and targeted for arrest.
"Østergaard took more than a year [to finish his work] and filmed about the journalist's live [coverage of the events]," said Toe Zaw Latt.
In addition, the film also incorporates video footage and clips of the protests taken by undercover reporters of the DVB, including protest marches led by Buddhist monks, their preparations and the military's crackdown.
"I think about 80 percent of the film is clips and footage from DVB's TV reporters inside Burma, though there are some constructed scenes to make it into a movie," Toe Zaw Latt said.
He added that the constructed scenes include taking pictures of houses in Chiang Mai, Thailand, to represent some of the homes in Rangoon, though the story is to tell the struggles of how a reporter covered the unfolding events in Burma.
In August and September 2007, hundreds of thousands took to the streets and held protest marches demanding a change in politics as well as a decline in commodity prices. The demonstrations were sparked when the government, in mid-August, suddenly raised the prices of petrol, diesel and gas.
But Burma's military rulers, who have a tradition of brutally suppressing any dissent, on September 27, began violently crushing the protestors. But unlike the previous nationwide protests in 1988, the September 2007 protests were widely disseminated to a global audience through the web pages of Burmese news agencies as well as radio stations and bloggers.
"We are glad that our footage and clips are being used for the film, as it will educate more people on the situation in Burma, that's why we have fully cooperated with him [Anders Østergaard]," Toe Zaw Latt said.
"We want to expand in the area of TV reporting, we want to show how powerful the images are," Toe Zaw Latt explained.
According to him, the 120-minute film will continue competing in various film festivals in Europe and will later be released for screening in theatres around the world.
"I am sure this will enable more people to be aware of the situation inside Burma," he added.
