Min Yan Thaik was born in Yay Township and is an ethnic Mon. Following computer science studies in Mawlamyine, he spent several years working for various humanitarian and cultural charities in Mon State before becoming a web developer for the Mon Educational Committee. He joined YFS in 2014 and has taken courses including in documentary, participatory video and fiction filmmaking. He was awarded a YFS grant in 2016 to develop his graduation film Reflections, about a family of rafters working on the waterways of Ye Chaung Phyar region in Mon state. In 2016, he was a participatory video facilitator during a Travelling Cinema placement in Myitkyina in Kachin State where he helped a local community to make two films: A Tea Planter’s Struggles and Dirty Water.