BURMA VJ - REPORTING FROM A CLOSED COUNTRY
Armed with small handy cams, undercover Video Journalists in Burma keep up the flow of news from their closed country despite risking torture and life in jail. Their material is smuggled out of Burma and broadcast back via satellite. 'Joshua', age 27, becomes tactical leader of a group of reporters, as Buddhist monks in September 2007 lead a massive uprising. Foreign TV crews are banned from the country, so it's left to Joshua and his crew to keep the revolution alive on TV screens all over. As government intelligence understands the power of the camera, the VJs become their prime target.
Release: 2009 (Denmark)
Duration: 84 minutes
Genre: Documentary feature
Spoken language: Burmese, English and Thai
Director: Anders Østergaard
Screenplay: Anders Østergaard and Jan Krogsgård
Cinematography: Simon Plum
Editors: Janus Billeskov Jansen and Thomas Papapetros
Sound Design: Martin Hennel and Niels Arild
Composer: Conny Malmqvist
Producer: Lise Lense-Møller
Production Country: Denmark
Production Company: Magic Hour Films
Coproducers: WG Films, Mediamente and Kamoli Films
Produced with support from: ARTE, CBC Newsworld, Channel 4, Dansk Metal, The Danish Film Institute, DR, Danida, Fritt Ord, HBO Documentary, NRK, IKON, Nordisk Film & TV Fond, WDR, SVT, The Swedish Film Institute, Televisió de Catalunya TV3, YES, VRT,
and the Danish Ministry of Education.
The film was nominated for the 2010 Academy Awards' Best Documentary Feature, Camerimages 2009 Feature Documentary Films Competition, Cinema Eye Honors Awards 2010 in the categories Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking, Outstanding Achievement in Direction & Outstanding Achievement in Production, Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards' 2009 Best Documentary, European Film Awards' European Documentary, Houston Film Critics Society Awards' 2009 Best Documentary Feature, Nuremberg International Human Rights Film Festival 2009 Nuremberg International Human Rights Film Award, PGA Awards' 2010 Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures, Sundance Film Festival 2009 Grand Jury Prize.
The fIlm won Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival 2008 Joris Ivens Award & Movies That Matter Award, CPH:DOX's 2008 Amnesty Award & CPH:DOX Award, Bodil Awards' 2009 Best Documentary Award, Boulder International Film Festival 2009 Grand Prize, Cinema Eye Honors Awards' Outstanding Achievement in Editing & Outstanding Achievement in an International Feature Film Awards, Jerusalem Film Festival 2009 FIPRESCI Prize, National Board of Reviews' 2009 Freedom of Expression Award & NBR Award, Nuremberg International Human Rights Film Festival 2009 Audience Award & Open Eyes Jury Award, Robert Festival 2009 Best Documentary Award, Sundance Film Festival 2009 Editing Award, Yerevan International Film Festival 2009 Best Documentary Film Award. In short, the film has received worldwide recognition and awards for its poignant and visceral take on the situation in Burma at the time. See more awards here.