Synopsis
The painter Rahula lives a modest but contented existence with his family in Mingun, a village on the banks of the Ayeyarwaddy 11km upriver from Mandalay. As a new work takes shape on a canvas in his studio next door to the towering base of Mingun’s famously unfinished brick pagoda, we learn how this easy-going artist has managed to survive a sizable chunk of Myanmar’s chequered history. Sawing the air with his cheroot, the jovial Rahula also reveals how he acquired his unusual name, his now successful abstract style, and met his supportive wife, of whom he admits: ‘If it weren’t for her I’d still be painting pictures of monks and pagodas for the tourists’.
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Credits
Director/Editor: Shin Daewe
Camera: Thaiddhi
Sound: Hnin Ei Hlaing
Categories
Technical Details
Duration: 22‘8‘‘
16:9 Letterbox
System: PAL
Stereo
English Subtitles
2008
Copyright
Yangon Film School
Director's Statement
"I first met Rahula in a tea shop in Mingun three years ago. I was struck by his eyes sparkling with intelligence, his love of art and his deep-seated belief in the value of education. What also captivated me about Rahula is that, unusually for a Buddhist, he does not strive for nirvana but wants nothing more than to pursue his current humble existence as an artist. In fact, to him, his present life is his nirvana.” Shin Daewe (director)
Director's Biography
Born in 1973, Shin Daewe began her film career as an assistant producer at the Yangon firm AV Media. She joined YFS in 2006 where she attended several courses and created a number of NGO-commissioned films for the School’s production arm, including the award-winning film A Better Future about child-centred teaching, An Uninvited Guest about tuberculosis treatments and Beyond the Tsunami (for Metta Development Foundation). Her own copious documentary projects include The Robe, On Holiday and a lively portrait of the Burmese painter Rahula, An Untitled Life, which has screened to acclaim at numerous film festivals around the world, as has Now I am Thirteen, about a young girl living in Myanmar’s dry zone. Her 2013 work about refugee camps in Kachin, Take Me Home, won Best Documentary Award at the 2013 Wathann Film Festival.
Screenings
Director's Filmography
Director
17‘0‘‘
Director
15‘0‘‘
Director
20‘0‘‘
Director
7‘0‘‘
Director/Editor
22‘8‘‘
Director
20‘50‘‘
Director
13‘49‘‘
