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Rays of Hope

Synopsis

Made for the NGO Association François-Xavier Bagnoud (FXB) active in Myanmar since 1993, this short documentary tells the story of 23-year-old Ohmar Kyaw, who lives with her parents and seven siblings in Hlaing Thar Yar on the outskirts of Yangon. As a teenager, she worked crippling twelve-hour shifts in a garment factory in order to support her large family. In her own touching words, Ohmar Kyaw describes the impact that FXB's vocational programmes are having on needy young people such as herself.

Director's Biography

Born in Yangon in 1970, Aung Nwai Htway studied law before taking a Forever Group course in editing and subsequently joining the NGO Population Services International (PSI) as an editor. Having joined Yangon Film School in 2006, in 2007 he tried his hand at directing for the first time with the short documentary A Piece of Eden about a young boy suffering from muscular dystrophy. He has since made numerous short documentaries and commercials for the development sector including a short film about a sex worker, Trying to Escape, and a documentary Escape from the Dead End in which a perspicacious Burmese cabin crew remembers how they successfully averted disaster during an emergency landing of their plane in 2012. Developed in cooperation with YFS, his 2012 documentary Behind the Screen is his most personal film, since it tells the painful story of his parents’ divorce, both of whom were Burmese film stars in the 1960s and 70s. This moving film won awards at Wathann Filmfest in Yangon in 2012 and at Salaya International Documentary Film Festival in Thailand in 2014; it also screened to acclaim at the prestigious International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam in 2013. He is currently working on the edit of Greener Pastures, a documentary about Myanmar refugees in northern Thailand, directed by fellow YFS alumnus’ Tin Win Naing.

Director's Filmography

2014
Greener Pastures

Editor

0‘0‘‘

2013
Escape from the Dead End

Director / Cinematographer / Editor

25‘0‘‘

2012

Director / Editor / Screenplay

35‘0‘‘

2010
Landing on the Beautiful Land

Director / Cinematographer / Sound/Editor

22‘0‘‘

2009

23‘0‘‘

2008
Rays Of Hope

Director / Editor

15‘56‘‘

2008
After the Nargis

Editor

25‘0‘‘

2007

Director & Editor

15‘36‘‘