Na Gyi
Na Gyi | |
|---|---|
| ဏကြီး | |
| Born | 2 May 1981 (age 45) Yangon, Myanmar |
| Occupations | writer, director |
| Notable work | Mi (2018), What Happened to the Wolf? (2021) |
| Spouse | Paing Phyo Thu |
| Parents |
|
| Awards | Best Director of Photography (AIFFA: 2019) Best Director of Photography (Star Awards: 2019) Best Narrative Feature (Dili International Film Festival: 2021) Hornorary Tribute Award (Oldenburg International Film Festival: 2024) |
Na Gyi (Burmese: ဏကြီး; born May 2, 1981) is a Myanmar filmmaker. He is best known for writing and directing the feature films, Mi (2018) and What Happened to the Wolf? (2021). He has established a notable presence in Myanmar Cinema and received recognition at the international film festivals.[1][2]
Following the 2021 military coup in Myanmar, Na Gyi became a leading voice in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM). Targeted by the military junta with an arrest warrant under Section 505 (A), he currently lives and works in exile. In 2024, he was honored with the Honorary Tribute Award by the Oldenburg International Film Festival.
Early life and education
[edit]Na Gyi was born in Yangon, Myanmar on 2 May 1981. He completed his secondary education at BEHS (1), Dagon in 1998 and subsequently studied engineering at Yangon Technology University. On January 1, 2019, he married Paing Phyo Thu, the lead actress[3] from his debut feature film, Mi.
Career
[edit]Na Gyi made his feature film directorial debut with Mi[4] (2018), an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Kyi Aye.[5] The film was commercially successful in Myanmar and generated public discussion when it was bypassed for nominations at the 2018 Myanmar Academy Awards.[6] It subsequently received tow nominations and won Best Director of Photography at the 2019 ASEAN international Film Festival and Awards.[7] The film was also an official selection at the Cardiff International Film Festival (2020) and Festival International de Cinema de Lleida Visual Art (2020).
His second feature film, What Happened to the Wolf?[8] held its world premiere at the 2021 Oldenburg International Film Festival. Due to the 2021 Myanmar coup ďétat, Na Gyi and Paing Phyo Thu were forced into hiding and were unable to attend the premiere.[9]
Activism and Non-Profit Work
[edit]Following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, Na Gyi and Paing Phyo Thu actively participated in anti-coup rallies and utilized social media to denounce the military junta. On 17 February 2021, State Administration Council issued a warrant for his arrest under section 505 (A) of the Myanmar Penal Code for his public support of the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM).[10] Consequently, the couple were forced into hiding and eventual exile.[11][12][13]
Prior to his exile, Na Gyi was a leading advocate for the implementation of the Rating System in Myanmar, challenging the country's strict censorship laws. This initiative, known as the "Rating System Now" campaign, aimed to promote artistic freedom within the Myanmar film industry.[14]
In response to the crisis, Na Gyi founded Artists' Shelter, a legally registered 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization.[15] The organization provides safe space, emergency support, and capacity-building programs for the displaced Myanmar artists in exile.[16] To provide a distribution pipeline for these artists, he simultaneously established 24FM (24 Frames Mozart), an independent pay-per-view streaming platform dedicated to uncensored Myanmar films and freedom of expression.
Filmography
[edit]- London Tale (2008) (Writer/Director/Actor)
- Where do you come from? What are you doing? Where are you going? (2012) (Writer/Director)
- Let There Be Dark (short film, 2012) (Associate Producer)
- Bo Ma (2014) (Writer/Director)
- Mi (2018) (Writer/Director)
- What Happened to the Wolf? (2021) (Writer/Director)
Awards and nominations
[edit]| Year | Award | Category | Film | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Myanmar Motion Picture Academy Awards | Best Director of Photography | Mi | Nominated |
| 2019 | ASEAN International Film Festival & Awards | Best Director of Photography | Mi | Won |
| 2019 | Star Awards | Best Director of Photography | Mi | Won |
| 2021 | Dili International Film Festival | Best Narrative Feature | What Happened to the Wolf? | Won |
| 2021 | Oldenburg International Film Festival | Best Film | What Happened to the Wolf? | Nominated |
| 2022 | Hobnobben Film Festival | Best Narrative Feature | What Happened to the Wolf? | Won |
| 2024 | Oldenburg International Film Festival | Honorary Tribute Award[17] | - | Won |
References
[edit]- ↑ "Na Gyi - the Bright Future of Myanmar Cinema". The Irrawaddy News. The Irrawaddy News. 27 Dec 2019.
- ↑ Roxborough, Scott (August 20, 2024). "Oldenburg Festival Unveils Competition Lineup, Tribute to Exiled Filmmakers". The Hollywood Reporter.
- ↑ "Defying convention to find another kind of success". The Myanmar Times. 21 Mar 2019.
- ↑ "A movie about Mi". The Myanmar Times. 23 August 2018.
- ↑ "Kyi Aye: A life well lived". The Myanmar Times. 2018-08-23. Retrieved 2022-01-05.
- ↑ "Harsh Public Criticism for Myanmar Academy Awards". The Irrawaddy. 2019-03-28. Retrieved 2021-12-20.
- ↑ April 2019, ချစ်ပိုး 28 (2019-04-28). "ASEAN International Film Festival မွာ "မီ" ဇာတ္ကားနဲ႔ဆုရခဲ့တဲ့ ဒါ႐ိုက္တာဏႀကီး". ဧရာဝတီ. Retrieved 2022-01-06.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ↑ Felperin, Leslie (2021-09-16). "'What Happened to the Wolf?': Film Review | Oldenburg 2021". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2021-12-20.
- ↑ Roxborough, Scott (2021-09-16). "'What Happened to the Wolf?' Director Na Gyi on His Life in Hiding From the Myanmar Junta". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2021-12-20.
- ↑ "စစ်ကောင်စီကိုဆန့်ကျင်တဲ့ အနုပညာရှင်တွေကို ဆက်တိုက်အမှုဖွင့်နေ". Radio Free Asia. Retrieved 2021-12-20.
- ↑ Sandi Sidhu and Helen Regan. "Burmese actress goes into hiding as celebrities opposing Myanmar coup added to arrest list". CNN. Retrieved 2022-01-07.
- ↑ "Paing Phyo Thu". Mizzima Myanmar News and Insight. Retrieved 2022-01-07.
- ↑ Roxborough, Scott (September 16, 2021). "'What Happened to the Wolf?' Director Na Gyi on His Life in Hiding From the Myanmar Junta". The Hollywood Reporter.
- ↑ Soe, Tina (September 30, 2023). "Lens of defiance: The Myanmar film industry's fight to survive in a new era of censorship". Myanmar Now.
- ↑ Nadi, Khin (July 1, 2023). "Myanmar Art is in Exile, But its Power is Rising". The Irrawaddy.
- ↑ Lynn, Thura (September 27, 2023). "The Artists' Shelter provides space for artists in exile". Democratic Voice of Burma.
- ↑ Roxborough, Scott (August 20, 2024). "Oldenburg Festival Unveils Competition Lineup, Tribute to Exiled Filmmakers". The Hollywood Reporter.