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uk), which includes interviews conducted with the Burmese comicZargana in 2007 before he was sentenced to 35 years in jail for his politicalactivities; and the Oscar-nominated Burma VJ.Filmed in the summer of 2009, Altered Focus: Burma (www.hotknees.com/media/Altered_Focus.php) is a 19-minute documentary followingthree young British film-makers and skateboarders as they share their loveof skateboarding with local enthusiasts in Yangon and volunteer to teachEnglish at a school in Mandalay. There is politics here but it's great tosee something about people in Myanmar having some fun, as well as todiscover Yangon’s skate park just opposite the national football stadium.John Boorman’s Beyond Rangoon, a political tract/action flick set duringthe 1988 uprisings, had Georgetown, Penang, do a credible turn asthe nation’s then-turbulent capital. It starred several Myanmar actors,including Aung Ko, who plays an elderly guide to Patricia Arquette’sAmerican tourist galvanised into political activist. Another Myanmar actor,Win Min Than, was cast opposite Gregory Peck in 1954’s The PurplePlain, the most credible of several WWII dramas set in Myanmar.Fighting more recent wars is Sylvester Stallone who returned to oneof his most famous roles in Rambo (2008). This time Vietnam Vet JohnRambo takes on the Tatmadaw, a whole platoon of which he mows downat the movie’s climax with a jeep-mounted machine gun!It’s a cert that no such dramatics will be part of Luc Bresson’s TheLady, in production during the research period of this book. The documentaryLady of No Fear, directed by Anne Gyrithe Bonne, also focuseson Aung San Suu Kyi. For more about both productions, see p 352 .Myanmar’s lack of copyright laws means those same DVD sellers willhappily offer you the latest Hollywood or overseas product; during our2011 visit all the Oscar nominees and more were available.The inauguralBurmese ArtsFestival (http://burmeseartsfestival.com), held inLondon in 2010,featured manycontemporaryartists, includingthe BurmeseTheatre Workshopand formerpolitical prisonHtein Lin.351ARTS & ARCHITECTURE