Vasili (pseudonym)

An autobiographical short documentary about fear and resistance, and the impossibility of creating art since the military coup in Myanmar. By “Vasili” (pseudonym.)

This is a film about what it is like to live in fear under a dictatorship. It begins with our director participating in the mass street protests in Yangon in the aftermath of the military coup of February 1st in Myanmar. On that day, the army destroyed the fragile democratic transition the country had been going through over the last years. The junta arrested the country’s democratically elected political leadership and all members of parliament, closed all independent newspapers and TV, restricted the internet, and began to terrorize its population – shooting hundreds of peaceful protesters, and arresting thousands. Our filmmaker explores how his emotions oscillate between resistance and strength, and an overwhelming and paralyzing fear. The new dictatorship brings back his traumatic childhood memories of when his father was arrested in the protests a generation ago. In fear of a military that has also begun to target artists and filmmakers, he realizes that his life-long dream of making films is now impossible in a country without freedom.