Synopsis
Twenty-two year old Aye Pwint spends her days foraging for herbs and roots to sell in the market. As she hacks her way desultorily through the undergrowth, we learn of her sad existence caught between a violent step-father and an indifferent mother.
Director's Statement
Director Lay Thida, who grew up close to where the film's protagonist lives, says: 'I wanted to tell Aye Pwint's story to make people in Myanmar aware of women's issues. I hope this film will encourage Myanmar's women's groups to push for policy changes that will protect women and empower them to overcome such abusive relationships.'
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.
Awards & Nominations
Screenings
Director's Filmography
Director
12‘0‘‘
Director/Editor
8‘15‘‘
Sound Recordist
22‘22‘‘
Sound Recordist
15‘58‘‘
Sound Recordist
13‘49‘‘
Sound Recordist
10‘11‘‘
