Born in 1996 in Yangon to parents from the Rakhine and Inn ethnic groups, May Thyn Kyi studied journalism and photojournalism and then began working for a local news agency in 2018 before writing and creating photo stories for various women’s organisations. Eager to learn about the moving image, she enrolled at Yangon film School in 2020. She has since worked on a number of documentary and animation projects including Yellow’s Happiness and also joined a Travelling Cinema crew in Kengtung in Shan State as a participatory video facilitator. Her directing debut Shifting Sands has screened to acclaim at a number of international festivals. She has since directed Being Mon about a young gay doctor in Mawlamyine who has a passion for the arts. Made with funding from the Goethe Institut Myanmar, her animated film about sex workers Exit was presented at the exhibition ‘Shi’.