The Change Maker

The Change Maker

Synopsis

Su Mai is one of 105 'fellows' trained by Metta Foundation, Action Aid and Shalom Foundation who have volunteered to live in remote rural communities and promote self-reliance and equality. In this short documentary made for the British Embassy Rangoon, 23-year-old Su Mai looks back on the year she has spent in the village of Sekham in KachinState. After struggling to overcome the villagers' initial hostility, she helped them realise an impressive array of activities including several micro-credit schemes and the construction of two schools, a library and a road.

Director's Biography

Lay Thida was born in 1983 in Loikaw, Kayah state in eastern Myanmar. An English graduate of Taunggyi University, she joined the very first YFS  course in 2005. A regular sound recordist on YFS productions, her directorial debut Just A Boy earned her a Heinrich Boell Foundation Documentary Award in 2007. Her subsequent work includes portraits of an ex-poppy grower (A Farmer’s Tale, 2007), a young development worker (The Change Maker, 2008), and a hard-hitting documentary about domestic violence in Shan State (Unreported Story, 2011). In 2010, she received a Charles Wallace Trust Fellowship to attend a documentary course at the National Film and Television School in the United Kingdom, which culminated in the production of a short documentary, Wrong Side Up. A Fulbright scholar, she took an MA in Development in International Policy Studies in Middlebury Institute of International Studies, Monterey, California in 2013 before returning to Myanmar in 2015 where she continued to make films for a range of clients in the development sector. Alongside her work as a filmmaker, Lay Thida also co-founded and ran an NGO, Better Life.

Director's Filmography

2011

12‘0‘‘

2011

Director/Editor

12‘22‘‘

2011

Director

18‘50‘‘

2009

Director/Editor

18‘45‘‘

2009
The Long Way Home

Director/Editor

8‘15‘‘

2009

23‘0‘‘

2008
The Change Maker

Director/Editor

15‘59‘‘

2007

Director/Editor

18‘18‘‘

2007
The Merry Widows of Nam Mun Village

Sound Recordist

22‘22‘‘

2006

Sound Recordist

15‘20‘‘

2006
A Sketch of Wathone

Sound Recordist

15‘58‘‘

2006
The Uninvited Guest

Sound Recordist

13‘49‘‘

2006

Director/Editor

13‘5‘‘

2005
Peace Of Mind

Sound Recordist

10‘11‘‘

Pictures

The Change Maker
The Change Maker
The Change Maker
The Change Maker
The Change Maker
The Change Maker
The Change Maker