Synopsis
Every year on a full moon night in November, thirty women gather at Shwe Phone Pwint Pagoda in the Pazundaung district of Myanmar's former capital Yangon to take part in a competition known as Matho Thingan. Their task is to weave the finest robes for the temple's Buddha images. All robes must be finished by dawn otherwise they are considered 'stale'.
Cheered on by large crowds and an orchestra of pulsating drums and high-pitched oboes, the teams of dedicated female competitors work the handlooms frenziedly back and forth in a feat that celebrates Buddha's own foster mother, Gautami, who is said to have woven her son a robe in a single day.
Credits
Director: Thu Thu Shein
Camera: Pe Maung Same and Thu Thu Shein
Editor: Thu Thu Shein
Sound: Lay Thida
Category
Technical Details
Duration: 15‘20‘‘
Copyright
Yangon Film School
Director's Biography
Yangon-born Thu Thu Shein was a video editor at Myanmar Forever June Co. before discovering her passion for documentary at the first Yangon Film School workshop where she was cinematographer on A Day with Aye Nan Lin (dir: Eh Mwee). “I wanted to show the weavers’ excitement, exhaustion and joy”, she says of her own directorial debut, A Million Threads, which she also edited during the 2006 YFS workshop.
Screenings
Director's Filmography
director / cinematographer
5‘0‘‘
director / cinematographer
13‘13‘‘
Director
28‘0‘‘
director / cinematographer
5‘3‘‘
editor
15‘45‘‘
cinematographer
13‘13‘‘
sound recordist
13‘49‘‘
cinematographer
5‘0‘‘
cinematographer
12‘39‘‘
director / cinematographer / editor
15‘20‘‘
