Catalogue > At random

In the houses, after parting, Mothers were made up of tears. Sons were transformed into empty glass cups. And the lullabies became a curse. The film examines the suffering and resilience of the Burmese people by using the distinct political elements that have floated for several years on the ocean of political opera under repetitive military dictatorships in Myanmar. The visual composition draws on the colors of Myanmar’s national flag, adopted in 2010 during the country’s so-called transition period. This flag, rooted in the 2008 Constitution forced upon the country by a former military dictator, contrasts sharply with the earlier 1974 State Flag Law, as it includes a formal definition of the flag. The film deconstructs and questions the existing definition of the flag by playing with the colors, objects, and sequences, by using a form of Government Propaganda Television Footage showing different generations under repetitive military dictatorships, by mixing the chilling voice of the current dictator, Min Aung Hlaing, narrating haunting lullabies through AI technology. The film also revisits the song which was sung from the last footage of actual footage of a birthday party celebration for Myanmar’s former dictator, General Ne Win, held at Sedona Hotel in Yangon on March 21, 2001, one year before his death.

Lin Htet Aung (b. 1998) is a filmmaker from Myanmar. He began with avant-garde poetry before transitioning to filmmaking in 2017. His short films have been selected at several international film festivals, including New York Film Festival, Vancouver, Tirana, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, International Film Festival Rotterdam and won several awards, including the TIGER SHORT AWARD at International Film Festival Rotterdam IFFR. An alumnus of TIFF Directors’ Lab, Berlinale Talents, Locarno Filmmakers Academy, Asian Film Academy, and a Prince Claus Seed Awardee 2023, he is now developing his debut feature, Making A Sea, which received the Asian Cinema Fund and Red Sea Award at Asian Project Market (APM). After the coup in 2021, he joined the CDM (Civil Disobedience Movement) for his Engineering study in Myanmar, and currently studying at Städelschule art School, Germany.