The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Poulsen, moderated by Katie Arnold, a freelance journalist who has reported on Myanmar’s political and social development.

Speakers: 

Karen Stokkendal Poulsen is a writer and director with a background in foreign affairs and political science. Her 2014 documentary “The Agreement” was nominated for Best Nordic Documentary at the Göteborg Film Festival, Best Medium-Length Documentary at the Krakow Film Festival, and the F:ACT Award at the Copenhagen International Documentary Festival. She is currently working on developing a fictional television series based on the film. “On the Inside of a Military Dictatorship” premiered at the 2019 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in April 2019.

Katie Arnold is a freelance journalist previously based in Yangon, Myanmar where she covered the country’s political and social development. Her main area of specialism is the Rohingya crisis – having produced videos, articles and photography for Al Jazeera English, CNN and the BBC among others. She has also provided live TV commentary to BBC Radio 5, TRT World and France 24.

Bangkok-based Patima Tungpuchayakul has committed her life to rescuing and returning home men from Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, and other Southeast Asian nations who have been sold to Thai fishing companies by human traffickers.

Once at sea, these captive men go months, even years, without setting foot on land, earning little to no pay, trapped in a modern form of slavery on the boats and forced to endure horrific and often deadly conditions.

Patima and her small team of activists risk their lives on remote Indonesian islands to find these men, fight for their emancipation and seek justice for them. In the face of illness, death threats, corruption, and complacency, Patima’s fearless determination reveals stories of criminal conspiracy at the heart of the global seafood industry, as she calls on her nation and the world to wake up and take action.

“You and I have to work together to tell this story. If this is going to change, it’s going to take all of us.”
Patima Tungpuchayakul, film subject

For further information about the Human Rights Watch Film Festival 2019, click here.

The Frontline Club will screen a short documentary, made by journalist Shafiur Rahman on the current crisis, followed by a panel discussion on the ongoing atrocities that are afflicting the region.

Shafiur Rahman’s documentary on Rohingya women uses harrowing footage from the border with Myanmar as well as devastating testimony from Rohingya refugees. The panel will further help to decipher whether this is an ethno-religious conflict or something more?

Chair

Professor Penny Green

Professor Green is Professor of Law and Globalisation at Queen Mary University of London. Professor Green has published extensively on state crime theory (including her monograph with Tony Ward, State Crime: Governments, Violence and Corruption), state violence, Turkish criminal justice and politics, ‘natural’ disasters, transnational crime, mass forced evictions/displacement and resistance to state violence. She has a long track record of researching in hostile environments and has conducted fieldwork in the UK, Turkey, Kurdistan, Palestine/Israel, Tunisia and Myanmar. Professor Green is Founder and Director of the award winning International State Crime Initiative (ISCI) – a multi-disciplinary international initiative to collate, analyse and disseminate research-based knowledge about criminal state practices and resistance to them. Professor Green’s most recent projects include a comparative study of civil society resistance to state crime in Turkey, Tunisia, Colombia, PNG, Kenya and Myanmar); Myanmar’s genocide against its Muslim ethnic Rohingya; and forced evictions in Palestine/Israel.

Speakers

Shafiur Rahman 

Shafiur Rahman is an independent documentary maker. His projects highlight issues around human rights, migration and poverty.  Filming in a wide variety of contexts and countries from Bangladesh, Libya, Italy,  South Africa,  Kenya, the US, his work has taken him most recently to the Myanmar/Bangladesh border. He has been documenting  Rohingya refugee stories since 2016

Dr Azeem Ibrahim

Dr Azeem Ibrahim is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Policy and Research Professor at the Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College. He is also author of The Rohingyas: Inside Myanmar’s Hidden Genocide, He received his PhD from the University of Cambridge and has previously been appointed an International Security Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and a World Fellow at Yale University. Over the years, Dr Ibrahim has met and advised numerous world leaders on policy development. In his most recent roles, he served as National Security and Defence Policy Advisor to the Leader of the (UK) Labour Party, Rt Hon Ed Miliband MP, and the Shadow Cabinet from 2012 to 2015, and as Strategic Policy Advisor to the Chairman of Pakistan’s PTI party, Imran Khan. Read his recent interview in New York magazine here.

Dr Thomas MacManus

Thomas MacManus is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow based at the International State Crime Initiative in the Department of Law. Thomas is admitted as an Attorney-at-Law (New York) and Solicitor (Ireland). Thomas is an Editor in Chief of State Crime journal, and Joint Editor of Amicus Journal: Assisting Lawyers for Justice on Death Row. He is also a Director of the Colombia Caravana.

Anastasia Taylor-Lind 

Anastasia Taylor-Lind is an English/Swedish photojournalist who has been working on issues relating to women, population and war for over a decade. She is a Harvard Nieman Fellow 2016, and recently finished a year of research at the university on war, and how we tell stories about modern conflict. She has written about her experiences as a photojournalist for The New York Times, TIME LightBox, Nieman Reports and National Geographic. As a photographic storyteller, her focus has been on long-form narrative reportage for monthly magazines. Anastasia is currently in Bangladesh covering the Rohingya crisis for Human Rights Watch.

Oo is one of his nation’s predominant emerging filmmakers and of the many talents being showcased at the Frontline Club’s ‘A Country in Motion: Films From Burma’ event. Organised by the Czech Centre, the films highlight the recent political, cultural and social transitions in Burma.

Four films were exhibited. The Little Finger, A Peaceful Land, I Wanna Go To School and A Buffalo Boy. Focusing on a range of issues including development, human rights, democracy, education and exploitation, the films provided an illuminating insight into life in modern day Myanmar.

Interesting and thought provoking screening at @frontlineclub learning about human rights and activism in #Myanmar pic.twitter.com/drL04LQmXX

— Haylea Campbell (@HayleaCampbell) November 10, 2016

Left to Right: Human rights campaigner, Igor Blaževič, Burmese MP, Susanna Hla Hla Soe (National League for Democracy Party), Former Czech ambassador to the UK, Pavel Seifter

Chaired by the former Czech ambassador to the UK, Pavel Seifter, the event drew on the remarkable work being produced by a selection of Burma’s emerging filmmakers. During the open discussion after the films’ airing, Seifter was joined on stage by Burmese MP Susanna Hla Hla Soe (National League for Democracy Party) and the internationally renowned human rights campaigner Igor Blaževič. Oo joined on Skype.

Addressing the crowd from his native Burma, Oo is broadly positive about the course of progress in his country. He cautions however that further change is needed and highlights aspects of Burmese life that remain problematic. Oo spoke of the need to tell stories that had not been possible to tell in the past, rationalising that as a result, many of the documentaries emerging out of Burma are testimonial in nature.

Igor Blaževič agreed that despite the political developments made, problems remain. He outlined four major problems facing the country today:

“First is the military… the military protects the constitution and the constitution protects the military. The second problem is ongoing civil war… there is profound disagreement between the ethnic minorities and those in power. The third problem is ethnic nationalism… and the fourth problem is that the country is economically captured by the oligarchy groups created under the military”.

Oo concurred that the Army represents a major obstacle to further progress in Myanmar: “Now there is a new distinction between the Army and the Government. They used to be the same thing. It is fine to criticise the Government but the Army remain hard to touch”. He explained that filmmakers still have to submit material to a censorship board which decides upon what may or may not be shown to the wider public. This process prevented a number of films containing material critical of the Army from being shown at the Human Rights Human Dignity International Film Festival in June this year.

MP Susanna Hla Hla Soe concluded: “The first challenge is the expectation of the people… They would like to see the new Myanamar happen, but change is slow”.

Former Czech ambassador to the UK, Pavel Seifter

Film Reviews:

The Little Finger

Produced by: Shune Lei Thar, Kaung Myat Thu Kyaw, Saw Reagan

The Little Finger portrays the tale of the Burmese democracy in its infancy, covering the 2015 election from the perspective of two women leading notably different lives. One of the women filmed was Susanna Hla Hla (a guest at the Frontline Club for the evening), a parliamentary candidate for the National League for Democracy party, headed by Aung San Suu Kyi. The other is a grass grower living and working in rural Burma.

The film exposes the flowering yet fragile state of Burmese democracy. The shots of voting day queues, an old man sitting patiently waiting to cast his vote, a young man taking a ‘selfie’ in the queue, contrast with the concerns expressed by NLD activists regarding election tampering and voter documentation malpractice.

The Little Finger reveals the intertwined excitement and nervousness of democracy in action. It is hopeful yet truthful, it doesn’t fail to expose the disappointment felt by those left out of the democratic process. “They never failed to collect our taxes but now they are saying we can’t vote,” says one man upon finding out he can’t be registered to vote due to residential status issues. A warts and all look at the democratic process in action — The Little Finger records the joy of those who have waited so long for the vote exercising their democratic right, and the pain felt by those who’s wait goes on.

A Peaceful Land

Produced by:Sai Kong Kham, Lamin Oo

The early shots of toy soldiers in the sand beautifully set the scene for the story that unfolds throughout A Peaceful Land. This is the tale of land taken, of an entire way of life disrupted. Drawing on a range of interviews with those impacted, the film documents the 2005 government initiated nation-wide campaign to plant Physic Nut – a bush-like tree, used for biodiesel production.

Following Government orders, the Army set about confiscating acres of farmland as part of the programme, forcing farmers to plant the trees and work the land appropriated.

Faced with hardship and injustice, four courageous farmers from Nat Mauk (Magway Division) stood up against the authorities and fought for their rights and land.

Following prolonged harassment and even in some cases imprisonment, the afflicted were offered miserly compensation from the Government in return for seized acreage. Many felt forced to accept the terms and as such lost their deep connection to their farmland.

Despite intense pressure from the authorities, one female farmer explains why she refused to give up her plot: “The money will run out in the end, but the farmland will never run out”.

The documentary is beautifully shot and tenderly portrays the widespread pain felt by Burmese farmers at their loss of land and community. The documentary closes with frames depicting earth eroding into a river beside rural fields, symbolising the farmers plight.

I Wanna Go to School

Produced by: Nyan Kyal Say 

A powerful, short animation about a Burmese brother and sister who dream of going to school together. The story demonstrates effectively the obstacles to education faced by children in Burma. It highlights the prevalence and impact of gender inequality, poverty, child labour and abuse. With one in five Burmese children not in education and one in three Burmese children working, the story told is sadly an everyday reality for many young boys and girls in Myanmar.
A Buffalo Boy
Produced by: Mai Ah Nway (Ta’ang Chitthu) 

A fiction film detailing the life of a small boy in a rural village in the Burmese countryside. The boy is caught in the midst of warring parents, with his father a destructive opium addict and his mother struggling to provide for the family. The boy longs for an education and to join the other children from his village at school but is instead forced to work for the family, performing tasks such as gathering water and organising the family home.

The film provides a potent insight into the life of this one young boy, carefully detailing the everyday defeats inflicted upon him which curtail his happiness and development. After an argument between his parents, his mother is arrested whilst trying to buy opium for his father. The boy is left alone with his dad and is soon after sold off to a stranger to finance his father’s habit. Hard hitting, raw and skilfully weaved together, this is the story of the innocence of youth lost.

Followed by a discussion with Burmese filmmakers and experts, responding to the films as well as reflecting on Czech – Burmese parallels, Václav Havel´s friendship with Aung San Su Kyi, and the collaboration between Czech and Burmese filmmakers.

Organised by the Czech Centre in partnership with Human Rights Human Dignity International Film Festival, Human Dignity Film Institute and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic

Speakers:

Igor Blaževič is most known as a relentless human rights campaigner of Bosnian origin living in the Czech Republic. He participated in many humanitarian missions (Sarajevo, Chechnya, Cambodia, Burma, East Timor) and together with his wife, filmmaker Jasmina Blaževič, directed a wide range of documentaries (The Refugees of Twenty Years War (2000), Only 500 Deaths (2002), Burmese Prisoners (2002)) focusing on political oppression. In 1999 he founded One World Human Rights International Film Festival in Prague, which is today the biggest festival of its sort in Europe. For several years he headed the human rights department of the renowned Czech NGO People in Need. In the past five years, Igor has been based in Thailand and Burma, as the director of the Educational Initiatives, training program for Burmese activists. He is an international consultant for the Human Rights Human Dignity International Film Festival in Burma, in the establishment of which he played a crucial role. Currently he is with the Prague Civil Society Centre in charge for the Transitions Program.

Pavel Seifter was Czech ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1997 until his retirement in 2003. A lecturer in labour and social history in Prague, he was forced to leave his post after the Soviet invasion in 1968. He then worked as a window cleaner for twenty years, and signed the Charter 77, before becoming a key member of the Civic Forum movement, which led to the return from totalitarianism to democratic values in Czechoslovakia. He subsequently served as deputy director of the Institute of Contemporary History and then as the deputy director of the Institute of International Relations in Prague. He was appointed as Director of Foreign Policy to the President in 1993. He is currently a visiting research fellow at the Centre for the Study of Global Governance, LSE.

MP Susanna Hla Hla Soe is a member of the Burmese parliament representing the National League for Democracy, Susanna Hla Hla So has an impressive record as an activist working to improve the lives of Karen women in Burma. She worked for 12 years for the World Vision and established The Karen Women’s Action Group (KWAG) in 2010. Through KWAG she continued to empower Karen women in Karen State, ran anti-trafficking projects and took part in the peace negotiation process between the Karen National Union and the Burmese government to finally bring to an end 60 years of fighting between the two groups. She successfully ran for the MP position in the 2015 landmark elections. In 2012 she received the InterAction Humanitarian Award in Washington DC.

Lamin Oo is a Burmese filmmaker and director of A Peaceful Land

Programme:

THE LITTLE FINGER

Shune Lei Thar, Kaung Myat Thu Kyaw, Saw Reagan / Myanmar / 2016 / 35 min

Shot during the 2015 election, a portrait of a female Parliamentary candidate and an ordinary woman in the context of the change brought about the little fingers of the voters.

A PEACEFUL LAND

Sai Kong Kham, Lamin Oo / Myanmar / 2016 / 21 min

In 2005, Myanmar government started a nation-wide campaign to plant Physic Nut – a toxic bush-like tree – for biodiesel production. It was considered “a national duty” to grow these
trees. The country was to plant eight million acres within three years. This radical program resulted in land confiscations and forced labor all over the country. Faced with these hardship and injustice, four courageous farmers from Nat Mauk (Magway Division) stood up against the authorities and fought for their rights and their land.

I WANNA GO TO SCHOOL

Nyan Kyal Say  / Animation / Myanmar / 2015 / 3 min

A short animation about a brother and a sister who dream of going to school together. They are trying to escape from obstacles such as gender inequality, poverty, child abuse, child labour, human trafficking, etc. that are blocking their chance to education.

A BUFFALO BOY

Mai Ah Nway (Ta’ang Chitthu)  / Myanmar / 2015 / 12 min

A short fiction film about a boy from the village of Paloung Mountain and how he become a buffalo boy. Winner of the Min Ko Naing Award and the Hantharwady U Win Tin Award at the 2015 Human Rights and Dignity Film Festival.

PARTNERS

Human Rights Human Dignity International Film Festival (HRHDIFF) Burma´s first festival of its kind, Human Rights Human Dignity International Film Festival, aims to promote human rights awareness in Burma/Myanmar by using the power of film and to create space for encouraging human rights discussions amongst the general public. The festival is closely connected to the Human Dignity Film Institute which offers media and film trainings to aspiring young filmmakers in Yangon. The festival also tours every year in Burmese towns and villages.

Czech Centre London‘s mission is to actively promote the Czech Republic by showcasing Czechculture in the UK. Its programme covers visual and performing arts, film, literature, music,
architecture, design and fashion. As well as hosting its own events, the Czech Centre offers support for other groups organising Czech related initiatives in the UK. The centre also seeks to further enhance cultural relationships between the UK and the Czech Republic through curatorial visits, media tours and artistic residencies; helping to generate creative dialogue among artists, scholars and cultural activists from both countries. The Czech Centre is a member of EUNIC (European Union National Institutes for Culture).

L to R: Richard Cockett, Hkanhpa Sadan, Wai Hnin Pwint Thon, Robert Cooper, Paul French

Meanwhile certain regions of Burma are about to learn how to cast a ballot on November 8, ethnic minorities in rural areas are fleeing their homes that are being burnt by the military forces.

On Tuesday September 22, a panel of experts and activists discussed the uncertain future of the country that has been suffering the longest ongoing civil war.

Shortly after Paul French, commentator on Asia chairing the panel, invited the speakers to make their pitch about the current situation, it became clear that opinions about the value of recent reforms value immensely.

Meanwhile general secretary of the Kachin National Council Hkanhpa Sadan and campaigns officer at Burma Campaign UK Wai Hnin Pwint Thon said they can be hardly excited about the election, The Economist correspondent Richard Cockett  and adviser to EU representatives Robert Cooper sustained that the progress has been palpable.

“What western community did was they gave us furniture so far and television, but we still don’t have a roof to live under. They gave us the furniture, because they want the garden,” Mr Sadan outlined the perspective of the Burmese.

Ms Pwint Thon criticised the constitution introduced in 2008, which in her view gives a fake illusion of a legal state. “The aim of the constitutions is to create an appearance of change while still holding on to military power and while giving the military the power to decide on economy and politics of the country,” she said.

Mr Cockett underlined that the reforms should be considered in a relevant context. “You should judge Burma against the standards of the region, not against standards of western democracy or British parliamentary democracy,” he said numbering increasingly oppressive countries like Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and Cambodia.

According to him, the idea of restoring order in the country is inaccurate. “This country has never experienced order. It’s never experienced peace. Indeed, it’s never experienced an existence as a coherent country at all,” Mr Cockett said referring to the conflict ongoing since 1948.

Mr Cooper reckoned that the upcoming election might become the fairest that the country will have witnessed. “It’s been contested by a large number of parties. It’s got a large number of observers, very large number of local monitors and a large number of international observers there. And it’s not happened before,” he said.

Nevertheless, all the speakers concluded that the way towards genuine democracy, peace with ethnic minorities and complete freedom of expression will be long and bumpy.

Ms Pwint Thon criticised the western “wait and see” approach and Mr Cockett admitted that the economic withdrawal from Myanmar didn’t help the situation either. “It meant that the best practices left the country and they were left with Chinese companies who didn’t care or ever thought about human rights,” he said.

The panel also agreed that the anticipated election might not be that key in the transition. One of the root causes of the conflict is oppression of the country’s minorities.

Mr Sadan underlined that Myanmar has introduced one of the most discriminative religious laws in the world. Ms Pwint Thon added it is not only Muslims, but also women who are not treated equally.

Mr Cockett spoke about a “very poisonous sectarian atmosphere” that he considers one of the real dangers of the election. “It could be a real flashpoint that they exploit all this in the run-up to the election and even after the election. It’ll be extremely explosive in Rakhine state itself where the Rohingya have been entirely disenfrenchised and the buddhist Rakhine nationalists will use this to rally opinion and if the attack Muslims,” he said.

Monday 11 March

On Monday, a two-day referendum on the political status of the Falklands Islands wraps-up, with the results due that evening. The referendum is largely symbolic, since the islanders overwhelmingly favour retaining their status as an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom. The Argentine government, predictably, has already said it considers the poll a farce and it that it will continue to pursue its claim to sovereignty regardless of the outcome. Expect some chest-beating in Buenos Aires.

Also Monday, the US and South Korea are scheduled to begin an annual joint military exercise called Key Resolve. The exercise, which runs until 21 March and involves about 13,500 troops from the two nations, comes at a particularly tense time in the peninsula following the 12 February nuclear test in North Korea and the subsequent tightening of UN sanctions against the secretive communist state, which were approved on 7 March.

Monday is also a big day at the UN Human Rights Council session taking place in Geneva. Reports on North Korea, Syria, Myanmar (Burma) and Iran are all due to be considered on Monday. There is a press conference with the  Commission of Inquiry on Syria scheduled. It follows the announcement last week that the number of refugees from the conflict has surpassed the million-person mark.

EU Foreign Ministers are also due to meet Monday, with Syria a particular focus. Joint UN-Arab League Special Envoy for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi will brief ministers at a lunch before the meeting.

Tuesday 12 March

Russian President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, will host the leader of the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia for talks in Moscow. He is also due to meet today with the Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan who is making his first visit abroad since securing re-election last month. This choice of location for the trip is a clear affirmation of the close – and geo-politically significant – ties between Yerevan and Moscow.

Finally Tuesday, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde is scheduled to arrive in Algeria where she will pay a three-day visit.

Wednesday 13 March

On Wednesday, British Foreign and Defence Secretaries William Hague and Philip Hammond will be hosting their Russian counterparts Sergey Lavrov and Sergei Shoigu for talks in London, the first talks in this ‘2+2’ format. Syria is likely to be high on the agenda, although cynics might suggest the UK has little influence over Russia in this, or any, regard. Another topic that may be discussed privately is the ongoing inquest into the murder of Alexander Litvinenko (a procedural hearing in that inquest takes place on Thursday).

Finally, in the United States the Senate Armed Services Committee is scheduled to hold what is expected to be a highly emotive hearing on sexual assault in the military, with three of the witnesses giving testimony at the hearing being victims of abuse themselves.

Thursday 14 March

EU leaders will descend upon Brussels again on Thursday for their second meeting of the year, and the first since the Italian elections that failed to produce a clear victor and threaten to derail what was looking like a significantly more positive year for the region. It will also be UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s first opportunity to meet with counterparts since his Chancellor George Osborne failed to extract any significant concessions on the proposed cap on bankers’ bonuses that is scheduled to take effect in 2014.

Finally, Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold talks with the Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in Moscow. Russia currently holds the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council and has said it wants to make progress in the Middle East Peace Process a priority of its presidency.

Friday 15 March

The Italian parliament is scheduled to reconvene on Friday following the elections held at the end of February. Discussions on possible coalitions will begin in earnest the following week – likely on 21 March – hosted by outgoing Italian President Giorgio Napolitano. Many fear further elections later in the year are inevitable.

Friday also marks two years since the start of the Syrian uprising which has since descended into a horrific bloodbath which the international community appears powerless to stop.

Weekend

Saturday also marks the deadline for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to form a coalition, after he was forced to seek a two-week extension on March 2. Although both Israeli and US officials have issued public declarations suggesting a failure to form a government would not imperil the visit the following week by Barack Obama, others are not so sure.

Finally, as noted earlier, the 12th National People’s Congress closes in Beijing, with votes on draft resolutions and a closing ceremony, marking the culmination of the once –in-a-decade leadership transition in China.

Some images courtesy of Vasily Smirnov / Shutterstock.com

Michael Rosenblum and his Concentra-backed DNA conference put their money where their mouths are.A hefty 10,000 Euros prize for best video journalist of the year and hardware for best breaking news vj. 4 of the 8 finalists work for newspapers and the big winner was Alexandra Garcia of the Washington Post for her feature on the "shocking quality of dental care" in a rural part of Virginia. Roads jammed with families desperate for dental care at a free clinic. A toddler with potentially fatal abcesses in his mouth. Breaking news award to filmaker Subina Shrestha for her exclusive story for Al Jazeera English on the victims of the cyclone Nargis in Myanmar – see a segment above.. Unforgettable images of forgotten bloated bloddies floating down the Irawaddy river. Rosenblum thinks that the solution to all journalism is unleashing vj’s trained and given the "grammar" of good storytelling. He wants to mothball newsrooms and cull non-vj journalists. He’s got no answer for how to replace traditional root and branch newsgathering. But these vj winners and finalists are impressive, and Rosenblum rightly can claim credit for championing and rewarding them.