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46 the pulse local THE MYANMAR TIMES SEPTEMBER 2 - 8, 2013
Movie industry sees a new kind of action
Lwin Mar Htun
lwinmarhtun.mcm@gmail.com
and Ko Thiha
ACTION! Angry movie actors
and production staff
staged a demonstration
last week outside Yangon
City Hall to protest
against the “dictatorial” Myanmar
Motion Picture Organisation.
The scene was set for the face-off
when MMPO president U Luu Min
ousted a rival, Daw San San Maw,
who directed the August 24 demo.
But other film industry workers
have joined her in condemning
the MMPO leadership for being
secretive and arbitrary.
“The president and executive of
the MMPO act in secret and don’t
have an open relationship with the
industry,” said Daw San San Maw,
who was president of the Yangon
Regional Basic Video Board until
her dismissal on August 9.
The drama began when she
fired a subordinate, U Ne Win,
on instructions from the board
members. “The next day, U Ne Win
and his accomplices met the MMPO
executive board members,” said Daw
San San Maw. “I’m ready to explain
why we fired him and to show
the proof, but the executive board
members did not contact me. They
instructed me to restore U Ne Win,
but I did not. That’s why U Luu
Min fired me.” MMPO then tried to
blacken her name, she said.
A demonstrator, U Win Ko,
owner of Mun Htet Che Movie
Production, told The Myanmar
Times, “We want people to know
about the dictatorship controlling
MMPO. We can’t accept them as
leaders. We want to clean them out.”
U Win Ko said the movie
production business had suffered
since the appointment of the new
MMPO president and executive
board, and new members should be
appointed.
Movie production company
owner Jaman said, “We don’t want
to work under the system of U Luu
Min. We need a president with
experience who can make the right
decisions,.
“Movie distributors are struggling.
MMPO should be solving those
problems, but they aren’t.”
Protestors say the Myanmar Motion Pictures Organisation are making draconian decisions. Photo: Aung Htay Hlaing
“It’s a dictatorship, and we don’t
want that kind of leadership.”
Ko Kyaw Kyaw often plays the
role of a supporting actor in films
and said the MMPO is extending
its censorship regulations too
discriminatively. He said the rules
stipulated to supporting actors like
him were not asked of main or lead
actors and actresses.
“MMPO ordered us [supporting
actors] not to dye our hair or wear
trendy clothes. But they don’t do
anything about kissing or sex scenes
where famous actors are concerned.
That’s why I’m involved in this
demonstration.”
Movie industry workers from
Mon State and Ayeyarwady Region
also took part.
A film producer from Mon State,
U Zaw Win, accused the MMPO of
unfairness in the reselection of the
Mon Regional Basic Video Board.
“MMPO didn’t accept our votes,” he
said.
MMPO president U Luu Min said
the numbers of people involved in
the demonstration did not represent
the Myanmar movie industry.
“We will have more to say at a
later date.”
Since March last year, MMPO
ceased to be a government office
and became a non-governmental
organisation whose members were
to be chosen by election. The first
president, U Zin Wine, handed over
to U Luu Min last June for health
reasons.
National hero Sayadaw
U Ottama to be commemorated
Nuam Bawi
hknuambawi@gmail.com
AFTER years of official disapproval, the
memory of independence hero Sayadaw
U Ottama is to be celebrated on the
anniversary of his death, September
9. The ceremony will take place at the
Myanmar Convention Centre.
U Ottama died on September
9, 1939, of ill health after years of
imprisonment by the British colonial
authorities for repeatedly speaking
out against them.
Speaking for the organisers of
the event, Ko Lynn Tay Za told The
Myanmar Times, “We would like to
restore him to his place in history,
as his name has almost disappeared
from Myanmar history.” The group
also wants to rename the Kandaw
Mingalar Park as Sayadaw U Ottama
Park, a move supported by the culture
ministry.
Recognition of the Sayadaw has
been banned by the government
for decades, though informal
commemorations were held by
individuals and small groups.
“As the country opens up, events
like this have become possible,” said
Ko Lynn Tay Za.
Government ministers,
ambassadors and community leaders
will be invited.
Sayadaw U Ottama was born in
1879 in Sittwe, Rakhine State. As a
result of his anti-British agitation, he
was the first Buddhist monk to be
arrested and he underwent several
spells in prison starting in 1921.
At the ceremony, which marks the
74 th anniversary of U Ottama’s death,
a two-foot sculpture of the Sayadaw
will be exhibited by the sculptor Kyaw
Kyaw Min.
“The commemoration of this day
has been banned since the socialist
era but the military regime also
banned it,” said Kyaw Kyaw Min. “I
would like to display my sculptures of
U Ottama as he was the first monk to
help our people escape from British
domination. It was his example
that inspired the movement for
independence.”
Admission to the celebration will
be free of charge.
Film board embroiled in further controversy
lwinmarhtun.mcm@gmail.com
Lwin
Mar
hTun
FOR the first time since becoming a
non-government body last year, the
nation’s film board has fined a director
with a three month long ban.
The film in question is an adaption
of Ma Ma Pyone Pyone San Par (Mrs
Smile, Please Smile), a script by writer
and political activist Min Ko Naing.
The problem was not to do with the
film’s content: Rather, the MMPO’s
directorate decided to slap a ban for
three months because another version
was already in the works.
Director Nyunt Myanmar Nyi Nyi
Aung – who didn’t know the rights
of the film were currently owned
by anyone else and has directed
two other films based on the same
story in the past – helmed his latest
version, called Hna Lone Thar Paw
Kway Tek Kyel (A Falling Star on
the Heart), in collaboration with
producers Mun Htet Che and with
actors Hein Wai Yan and Thet Mon
Myint cast in the lead roles.
For previous versions, Nyi Nyi Aung
bought the rights to Min Ko Naing’s
story from Zarganar, who acted on
Min Ko Naing’s behalf during periods
in which Min Ko Naing was behind
bars. In this case, however, Nyi Nyi
Aung neglected to speak to Zarganar
before filming to let him know he
was intending to mount another
production.
“Zarganar and Nyi Nyi Aung are
very friendly and he said he will
speak to Zarganar later,” said the
head of Mun Htet Che production
company, U Win Ko. “So, we started
production.”
If Nyi Nyi Aung had mentioned his
plans to Zarganar earlier, he would
have learned that Zarganar had actually
written a screenplay of the same story
for another director, Kyi Phyu Shin,
who had bought the rights to the work.
Producer U Win Ko said there was
no malicious intent on Nyi Nyi Aung’s
behalf.
“Ko Nyi Nyi Aung is a really great
director and he has worked in the
film industry for over 30 years,” U
Win Ko said.“He hasn’t done anything
to earn a bad reputation at any time
during those years.”
He also said that Nyi Nyi Aung did
speak to Zarganar, but after filming had
finished, which is when he learned of
the other film’s existence. The director
apologised to Zarganar, Min Ko Naing,
and Kyi Phyu Shin, all of whom
accepted the apology but requested that
the second film not be released until
later, to which Nyi Nyi Aung agreed.
U Luu Min, the president of MMPO,
has told The Myanmar Times that
if Nyi Nyi Aung provided a formal
apology to the organisation and
Zarganar, the board was willing to lift
the ban entirely.
Zarganar has responded by saying
that he did request Nyi Nyi Aung to
delay the release of the film, but he
was disappointment at the MMPO’s
decision to enforce a ban and was
surprised when media reports said
he was the one who had filed the
complaint.
“When the MMPO was under
the government, I was always being
blocked by the MMPO’s president,”
he told The Irrawaddy on August
19. “I don’t want that to happen to
someone else.”