Mudras Calling PRESS KIT Final Wordmudrascalling.com/files/2016/09/Mudras-Calling-PRESS-KIT-Final-PDF.… · Hla Yin Kyae Nann Wai Wai Htun Contact Information: Mona Strassburger

MUDRAS CALLING - Press Kit - Page 1

BUSINESS ALLIANCE HUB ENTERTAINMENT

In Association with

FILM MYANMAR ENTERTAINMENT

Presents

A Christina Kyi Film

MUDRAS CALLING

Written and Directed By

Christina Kyi

Starring

Zenn Kyi Hla Yin Kyae

Nann Wai Wai Htun Contact Information: Mona Strassburger Producer [email protected] + 95 9 97406 7275 (Myanmar) + 1 818 254 9282 (USA)

Gabrielle Kelly Transmedia Producer/ Press Inquiries [email protected] 323 273 1601 (USA)

© Business Alliance Hub Entertainment


CONTENTS Key Credits

3

Cast

4

Full Production Credits

6

Short Synopsis (250 words)

9

Logline – Full Synopsis (1,637 words)

10

Director’s Statement

14

About Myanmar Cinema

16

About the Production

18

About the Filmmakers

21

About the Cast 29


BUSINESS ALLIANCE HUB ENTERTAINMENT

In Association with

FILM MYANMAR ENTERTAINMENT

Presents

A Christina Kyi Film

MUDRAS CALLING

Written and Directed By

Christina Kyi

Starring

Zenn Kyi Hla Yin Kyae

Nann Wai Wai Htun

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER YE MIN CO-EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS TAVORN STRASSBURGER,

GUS STRASSBURGER, NWE NWE OO, THIN MYAT WIN, CHRISTINA KYI TRANSMEDIA PRODUCER GABRIELLE KELLY

PRODUCED BY MONA STRASSBURGER DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY MAUNG MAUNG THA MYINT

EDITED BY CENTRAL BASE PRODUCTION MUSIC SCORING AND SOUND DESIGN ZENN KYI

SCREENPLAY BY CHRISTINA KYI

DIRECTED BY CHRISTINA KYI


CAST Jaden Williams Zenn Kyi Hnin Thu Zar Hla Yin Kyae Nu Nu Nann Wai Wai Htun Sai Gyi Nyi Nyi Min Mya Wai Mari Cole Dr. Ye Maung Wunna Kyaw Nurse Thet Hter Shwun Pyae Paing Young Jaden Noah Lynnhtet Kyi Baby Jaden Myat Ko Young Sai Gyi Htoo U Moe Aung Win Htut Kyaw Daw Mya Mya Swe Zein Htike Thagyee Zaw Mhine Young Thagyee Ko Ko Zaw Mhine Bagan Musician Su Aw Chel Medicine Man Thit Htoo District Official Aung Kyaw Sai Lu Shin Mwe La Bagan Dancers Pyae Phyo Aung

Thuzar Hlaing Bicycle Group MSL Mandalay Service of Language Kabyalut Dancer Chaw Su Hlaing

Khaing Khaing Sabe Tin Zar Myo Maung Naw Ae Shee Phaw

Master of Ceremony Thaung Nyunt Groom Bo Bo Bride Kyi Kyi Sein Parents Khin Yee

Tin Htwe Kyi Win Mya Mya Sein

Guests of Honor at Karaweit Sindhu Sagar Borja De Benito Porto Alessandro Rettondini Joanna Barnard Javier Curras Philippa Beale Nazrul Islam Borbala Kalman Richard Lacort Eduardo De Benito Luca Sartorelli


Alycia Ebbinghaus-Owens Felicity Gapes Mohammad Arshad Nicole Gray Cassim Mohame Elena Lopez Rey Miguel Matias Barreiro Alte’ Bester Masako Kataoka Tony Monaghan Leslie Maccracken Tassawar

Xylophonist Soe Thiha’ Hnin’s Friends May Phoo Ko

Nay Chi Su Zin Moe Htet Wint May Akari Htoo

Yangon Driver Zaw Ko Ko Couple Crossing Street Myat Min

Ei Khaing Thida Saw Wutyi Hlaing Airport Kyaw Win Maung

Kyaw Lin Aung Gu Guu Moe Kyal Sin Myat Thandar Ko Win Pa Pa Kyaing Tha Pyay Nyo

Motorboat Driver Ko Yin Inle Villager Kyaw Htun Inle Villager Lone Soe Inle Relative Han Win Set Inle Relative Daw Hla Inle Relative Daw Hter Inle Shan Drums Group Sai Loan and Group Medical Tent Patients New Ni

Zarni Nyein Chan Myat Ko Htet Myat Moe Kyo Pyit


FULL PRODUCTION CREDITS Director Christina Kyi Screenwriter Christina Kyi Executive Producer Ye Min Producer Mona Strassburger Co-Executive Producers Tavorn Strassburger

Gus Strassburger Nwe Nwe Oo Thin Myat Win Christina Kyi

Transmedia Producer Gabrielle Kelly Assistant Director Khaing Mya Mya Soe Director of Photography Maung Maung Tha Myint Production Manager Pyae Pyae Edited by Central Base Production Assistant DP Ko Min

Ko Mee Hlaning Thar Yar Aung Myo Oo

Behind the Scenes Camera Saw Win Htut Costume Designer Soe Soe Nyan Make-up Artist Ahnge Lay (Lin Lin Artist) Location Sound Mixer Myo Ko (Miracle Post) Boom Operator Kyaw Zaya (Miracle Post) Drone Operator Nyana (MAV) Technical Personnel Phyo Nge

Ye Zarni Thurain Htun

Bagan Dance Set Designer Ko Nanda Kyaw Still Photographer Myittar

Win Aung Gaffer Phyo Kyaw (Aung Pyae Sone)

Htet Myat Aung Assistant Gaffers Kyaw Lwin

Nyein Chan San Min Thet Zaw Ye Naing Lin Ka Yin Than Htay

Inle Lighting Crew Zay Yar Win Ko Myo

Dolly and Crane Mon Gyi Group Myo Min Group

Production Assistant U Hla Myint


Lone Soe Kyaw Htun Bo Bo Ko Aung Kyaw Myint

Editor Central Base Production Online Editor Central Base Production Editing Consultant Pauline Casalis Color Grading Central Base Production ADR Session Supervision Central Base Production Protools Operators Ko Ko Min (Pro Studio)

Nay Oo (Pro Studio) Sound Design and Mixing Zenn Kyi Music Scoring Zenn Kyi Composer/Music Supervisor Zenn Kyi Dance Choreographer U Win Maung (Shweman) – Bagan Dance

Htait Tin San – Thone Pan Hla’ Bagan Dance Htait Tin San

Thone Pan Hla History Consultants U Win Pe

U Win Htut Kyaw Script Editor Susan Sojourna Collier Acting Coach Thierry Bleu Traditional Musicians - Thiri Mg Mg and Group (Recorded at Wai Yan Studio) Sai Wine (Drum Circle) Thiri Mg Mg Six Drum Set Hla Htut Gong Circle Wai Yan Mg Mg Timing Bells & Clapper San Sint Mg Mg Oboe/Flute San Lwin Harp Song (Recorded at String Studio) Harpist Cho Thway All the music for the movie were recorded at: Pro Studio String Studio Esus5 Studio Original Soundtrack “Destiny” written & performed by Zenn Kyi Band - Rose of Sharon (ROS) Recorded @ Esus5 Studio Vocal Track recorded @ Pro Studio Mixed and Mastered by Kyaw Zay Ya @ Pro Studio


Sponsors Wellwoman/Wellman by Vitabiotics Ltd UK Shwe Ingyinn Hotel (Mandalay) Bagan Hotel River View, a member of KMA Hotels Hupin Hotel Nyaung Shwe Hupin Inle Khaung Daing Village Resort Business Alliance Hotel (Yangon) Golden Myanmar Airlines Mya Nandar Restaurant (Mandalay) Easia Travel (Yangon) Oriental Ballooning (Bagan) Amata Boutique House (Bagan) Bagan House Lacquerware Shwe Pyi Nann Thanakha Gallery (Bagan) Aythaya Vineyard (Taung Gyi) Aung Nan, Myanmar Handicrafts Workshop (Mandalay) Special Thanks Daw Swe Zin Htike U Maung Thin (SIG Group) U Aung Gyi (MD, Golden Myanmar Airlines) Mr. Bert Morsbach (Founder, Aythaya Vineyard) U Maw Maw Aung (Bagan House Lacquerware) U Ye Min Thu (Aung Nan, Proprietor) Ma Saung Klyar (Easia Travel) Daw Stella Kyaw Win (Group General Manager, KMA Hotels Group) Ma Khine Moe Moe Wint Mr. Ashok Kumar (Wellman/Wellwoman) Mr. Vipul Singal (Wellman/Wellwoman) L’Alchimiste Restaurant (Yangon) Nway Zin Myint Aung U Thein Tun Aung U Zarganar U Lu Min (Chairman, MMPO)


MUDRAS CALLING

SHORT SYNOPSIS (243 words) Myanmar born, US-raised music student Jaden, makes his way through the crowded streets of Yangon, Myanmar to research his thesis on Burmese traditional music. His guide, beautiful and proud Burmese dancer Hnin Thuzar, accompanies him as he travels through the unique landscape of Bagan, Mandalay and Inle Lake in Shan State. When he asks her help locating his birth parents, their journey takes on another dimension. As he gets to know her, their cultural divide becomes more apparent, but it takes a tragic accident to make him realize he’s falling in love with her. Directed by Christina Kyi, “Mudras Calling” is both a personal exploration of birth roots and a love story. Even as he is entranced by Hnin’s beauty, strength and sense of self, his world is thrown into turmoil. As he explores Myanmar, discovering the timeless landscapes and the deep rooted faith of its many tribes, he finds out unexpected truths about himself. While Jaden is provoked to question his own world view, Hnin fights for her life after a terrible accident. By saving her, he’s able to save himself. Whether they can overcome their differences is an open question, but the ‘mudras’ of the title - hand gestures that call out to Buddha, seem to beckon him back to Myanmar. From the medicine man to the musicians, as the love story unfolds against life and death, we travel in our own way through the history of this long hidden country – Myanmar.


MUDRAS CALLING

FULL SYNOPSIS (1,637 words) LOG LINE – When US-raised Jaden returns to his birthplace Myanmar, to search for his roots, he discovers a shocking truth, a new love and ultimately a possible future in his homeland. Seemingly all-American Jaden arrives in the chaos and heat of Myanmar’s vibrant capital city Yangon. For him it is a two fold journey from the USA; to research his thesis on Burmese music and to find his birth parents. On his first night in Yangon he is awakened by a disturbing dream of a crying baby. As he showers we see a distinctive birthmark on his back and the dream is quickly forgotten. Exploring the teeming streets the next day he comes across a dance performance by a striking performer whom he photographs. Her name is Hnin, a travel agent and guide who ends up planning his trip through Myanmar. She invites Jaden to join her at Shwedagon Pagoda, a shimmering gold monument and sacred destination for all Burmese. Asked about his faith and finding out he has none, both Hnin and her friend Nu Nu are surprised. In their culture religion and family are everything. When Hnin learns to her surprise, that Jaden was actually born in Myanmar, her pride is stung. She asks why he concealed the information. He is taken aback but as he is starting to have feelings for her, he doesn’t explain or defend himself as they head off to Bagan. In Bagan, home of hot air balloons floating over a sea of stupas, the sacred landmarks of the region, he meets with traditional musicians to record their work and starts to feel at home. But he has another agenda as he heads to Mandalay. Hnin wonders where he went – she had set up a meeting for him with a musician. Back at the hotel she tells him she finds his behavior irresponsible. Realizing his secrecy is angering her, Jaden tells her his Burmese parents died and he was adopted by an American couple and brought up in the USA. Hearing this Hnin is completely overwhelmed and feels guilty for berating him. With tears in her eyes, she apologizes, telling him she should not have judged him. He readily forgives her and the next day she introduces him to a district official who may be able to help Jaden in his search for what exactly happened to his Burmese parents. But when they meet, the official says little and Jaden feels he’s hiding something.


Speaking in Burmese the official tells Hnin something which makes her gasp in shock. It is difficult to share it with Jaden but eventually she tells him gently that the people in the photo he carries with him always are not his real parents. The official was the one who processed the paperwork and also treated the orphaned baby who had a birthmark on his back. Jaden hears this in shock realizing the official is telling the truth. Overwhelmed, he rushes out of the room, and blindly cycles away finally stopping at a picturesque lake where he flashes back to scenes of him as a young boy, with the people he thought were his real parents. Back at the hotel Hnin anxiously waits for Jaden to come out of his room as 2 days pass. Finally he emerges, looking withdrawn and shaken. She quietly insists they go eat and get some air. There by a beautiful lake Jaden finally relaxes and when they go for a walk on a dark pier under a silvery moon, he tries to kiss her. Sadly, she tells him he doesn’t know Myanmar and doesn’t even speak her language so how can they really know each other? Surprising Hnin, he tells her in Burmese that he loves her. Overwhelmed, she walks off alone. For a traditional young Burmese woman such declarations are difficult to handle. Later back at the hotel in separate rooms they lay awake thinking over all that has happened. As they continue the journey, visiting Mandalay’s famous attractions, they are awkward with each other. Finding nothing, Jaden is about to give up and return to Yangon but Hnin receives information from the district official who, feeling bad about their previous encounter, had made some inquiries about Jaden’s family. He tells them of a couple of remote villages where Jaden may find people who know more. They set off by boat, Nu Nu accompanying them, and cross Inle Lake, a huge and magical body of water around which many families live and fish. They eventually arrive in a small village where a young guide takes them even further upriver. The trees around them grow thicker and thicker as the jungle takes over civilization. Stopping to rest for a moment, the girls Hnin and Nu Nu go alone into the jungle undergrowth. Then a terrifying scream pierces the silence. Nu Nu runs out of the jungle telling Jaden that Hnin has been bitten by a deadly viper. When Jaden finds her she is barely conscious. Local villagers tell him the nearest hospital is too far away. The only hope is a nearby medicine man. Unless she gets help immediately she will die. Jaden jumps into action – the crisis and his feelings for Hnin now crystallized, he carries her to the boat through the jungle heat. At the medicine man’s hut, the white robed healer tells them no non-believers can be present while he does his work. Confronted with the reality that only those who have


faith can enter, Jaden is horrified. He is not a man of faith. But in those moments in life where one’s very soul is tested, he tells the medicine man he is in love with Hnin. That is his faith. Looking deep into his eyes, the medicine man permits him to stay and gives him a potion to drink. Jaden collapses on the floor exhausted and closes his eyes. He then passes into a dream world and there he meets Hnin, tells her he loves her and needs her to stay alive. The surroundings are like a heavenly realm and there, knowing he must believe and have faith so that the medicine man can save her life, he finds his own true faith. When he wakes, Hnin and Jaden look at each other and both realize they were in each other’s dreams. Hours have passed and the medicine man, exhausted, tells Jaden, “She will live.” Jaden’s relief is intense and his feelings for her, all the more powerful. He tells her they must return to Yangon where she can be helped but she gently reminds him that she is cured – the medicine man’s ministrations have been successful and insists they continue their journey. With misgivings, he agrees and they eventually find a villager who remembers whole villages dying of a mysterious disease that swept through the community wreaking havoc. In a flashback a helpless baby cries in the arms of a dying woman who is clearly infected with a deadly disease. It is then Jaden learns the story of what really happened from a tribal elder; just before her death, the dying woman pleaded with the doctor and nurse to take care of her son. However, it is the next piece of news that stuns Jaden. The doctor and nurse are the couple he believed to be his parents but were later killed in a car crash. He was then adopted by his American parents and grew up in America. Realizing the dying woman was his biological mother, he’s in for an even bigger shock – his biological father is alive! However, before Jaden can really absorb this news, a humorous and spirited man appears in the doorway looking at the son he thought he’d never meet again. Seeing Jaden, he breaks down and weeps. Amazingly he had survived the epidemic and never knew what happened to his son. They celebrate their new found family reunion with dancing and feasting to traditional drums and music around a huge fire. Jaden’s father, a cheerful soul, dances backlit by the flickering flames, moving in the ancient rhythms handed down over time. There are tender emotional moments where father and son bond, but time is passing and eventually Jaden has to leave. At the river’s edge, Jaden’s father hands him a small baby shirt. He unwraps it slowly as his father tells him that his mother bought it for her unborn baby. The tears flow between them as the boat takes to the water, Jaden’s journey complete, his roots found and his biological father identified. No longer will his dreams be the mystery they were. Through finding his family, he has found himself.


Back in Yangon the Thingyan Water Festival ushers in the Myanmar New Year. It is a time for renewal and merriment. Revelers douse each other with water as they celebrate and he realizes “The woman in the dream has to be my mother. Now I’m finally able to say the words, may her soul rest in peace.” His search is over. At the airport, his trip has come full circle. It’s a bittersweet departure as he makes his way alone though the throngs of travelers. His mind is somewhere else, he arrived in Myanmar alone and he is leaving alone. Although he has gained precious knowledge, he feels his solitude. Then a beloved voice breaks through his reverie. “Ready to leave?” There is Hnin with a gift for him. They smile but awkwardly stand apart. “I would like to get to know you more,” she tells him. “Maybe we can go on a real date.” There’s a possible job for him in Yangon and though he arrived a stranger, he leaves with a family; home and love may bring him back to find a future in Myanmar. He walks away, his dreams ahead, as Hnin smiles, watching him.


DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT – Christina Kyi The title “Mudras Calling” comes from the “mudras” or hand gestures that are so much a part of life in Myanmar. Part of the Buddhist faith shared by so many Burmese, it is also seen in the beautiful Burmese dance movements. I want to use it to symbolize Myanmar. In a way, it’s a calling from the motherland. I grew up with traditional Burmese music, film and dance and even after I moved from my home in Yangon, Myanmar to the US, that love continued. I realized early on that I was an artist and that of all the arts, filmmaking spoke to me the most. Whenever I watched a movie, stories would pop into my head. I couldn’t wait to create them on film, I could see them playing out in my mind and I was so impatient to bring them to the screen. I speak two languages, Burmese and English, and I also share those two cultures, they meet in my imagination and I think equally in both. It was out of this double world view, that “Mudras Calling” was born. It’s the contemporary story of Jaden, a young guy who returns to Myanmar to study traditional music and as it turns out, to find his birth family. He has been adopted by an American couple but he always yearns to find out where he came from. More importantly, what happened to his birth parents. The story shows how a young man in search of his roots discovers more than he expects. While he is on this journey he meets Hnin a very traditional young Burmese woman and slowly starts to have feelings for her. She’s much more conservative and has only thought of her soul mate as a Burmese Buddhist like herself. She finds out however, through meeting Jaden, that kindness and compassion surpass religious and cultural boundaries. It took me about 3 months to write the script and Jaden’s character was the most difficult to write. I know the girl’s character very well so that was easier but I was always calculating the budget in my head as I wrote. I really love the true stories of Myanmar, they inspire me so much and this is a mixture of many people I know and stories I’ve heard. Something that is very important to me is I want to write characters that are real and believable. That’s something I don’t see so much in the films of Myanmar today so from the beginning of the story to the end I want to show events happening without exaggeration. As Myanmar develops and we are able to get the experience of making more films and telling more stories it will change but for me it’s about telling an old story in a new way. That was my goal in making “Mudras Calling.” Jaden can’t approach Hnin in the way he would a woman in the USA. It was when I experienced two cultures at the same time I had this idea for a movie about two people who are from very different backgrounds. Also often the journey we set out on, is not the


one we find ourselves taking. Jaden, the lead of “Mudras Calling,” has to act in a way he never imagined when Hnin is in jeopardy. He has also just found out his memories and what he believed about his family was completely not true so he is really tossed and thrown around by fate. I studied film in New York where I was inspired by “The Godfather” - it’s my favorite film and Mario Puzo inspires me as a screenwriter because he packs so much about culture and history into his compelling stories. One director stood out for me from that time in New York, independent filmmaker Spike Lee. His passion and commitment to tell stories as he saw them was an inspiration. From these great filmmakers I know the screenplay is the key foundation of any movie – that’s why I worked on the script of “Mudras Calling” with my former professor and script editor Susan Sojourna Collier. I wanted to make sure it was as good as it could be. My first love has always been acting because I want to get inside the character and be part of the story but my passion for shaping the story drew me to directing – the director is the person who has the most opportunities to shape the film. There are so many stories and the world knows little about Myanmar, I hope to bring many more of its characters and stories to the screen.


MUDRAS CALLING Directed by Christina Kyi

ABOUT MYANMAR CINEMA As in many countries in Asia, there are few women working as film directors. Christina Kyi is one of the very few working in Myanmar where the norm is documentaries and quickly made entertainment driven films in Burmese, produced rapidly for the local market. “Mudras Calling” signals a major change in the way movies are made in this rapidly changing and evolving country. Myanmar cinema has an illustrious past. October 13, 1920 is commemorated as Myanmar Movie Day to honor the presentation of “Love and Liquor”, by Ohn Maung, one of Myanmar’s film pioneers. In the decades following, many Burmese owned film companies were founded. The first sound film, “Money Can’t Buy It” was produced in 1932 and in 1952, following the many propaganda films made during the Cold War era, Myanmar held its first Academy Awards which continue to this day. The 1950’s marked perhaps the golden age of Myanmar film with almost 450 cinemas and Burmese films so popular in India, that Bollywood stars would come to Yangon to star in local productions. However, although Myanmar’s film industry used to be the biggest and most vibrant in South East Asia, today there are fewer than 50 working cinemas, and only around 20 features are shot annually. Myanmar policy is such that only 1 Myanmar film is allowed to screen in cinemas at a time. This practice results in a long “queue” for feature films, and at times it could take over a year and a half to show in a cinema once completed and approved by the Censorship Board. There is an additional market that generates nearly 1,000 low-budget films a year, shot quickly in less than a week, which are released straight to DVD via a well-established network of over 12,000 rental shops throughout Myanmar. Documentary is well represented with training by the NGO funded Yangon Film School whose graduates show work in top film festivals. The Human Rights Human Dignity International Film Festival (HRHDIFF) is held annually in Yangon and is the biggest of its kind in SE Asia. The Waathan Film Festival travels around Myanmar showing films in regions outside the main cities and a recent LGBT Festival “&PROUD LGBT Festival” signals the type of change currently at work. However, with its film infrastructure under financed, narrative filmmakers struggle to compete with the flood of pirated works from Greater Asia and beyond. It was in this context that Yangon native, businessman and philanthropist U Ye Min and Thai-American creative entrepreneur Mona Strassburger decided to produce a feature film that showcased the beauty of Myanmar’s widely diverse landscape and


communities and tell a story that was both familiar but with a Burmese twist – that of a returning native son, seeking to find his roots and finding much more than he anticipated. In aiming for something more complex than the shorter video shoots that provide Myanmar with most of its entertainment, they had to weather the challenges of a relatively new industry trying to get up on its feet. Director Christina Kyi, herself a Burmese educated in the US and Burmese-American lead actor Zenn Kyi, brought their own histories to this story of love and discovery. As more commercial and artistic projects are made showcasing a wide variety of Burmese talent the country can take its place again as a bastion of film in SE Asia and the world. A strong force for change and development of Myanmar film is former actress Grace Swe Zin Htaik, known affectionately as the ‘godmother of Myanmar cinema’. The tireless advocate for peace and human rights, a Myanmar Academy-Award winning actress who has performed in over 200 films, and a force for change in Myanmar filmmaking, she has a cameo in the Myanmar release version of “Mudras Calling.” 2020 will mark the 100-year anniversary of Myanmar cinema and with it a much hoped for celebration of a tumultuous century. Plans are afoot to celebrate not just the history of cinema in this fascinating and unique country, but also a new wave of visual storytellers who can take their place on the world stage and tell the stories of their country and their people.



ABOUT THE PRODUCTION Mudras, the gestures in Buddhism that signify various states of being really speak to U Ye Min, Executive Producer of “Mudras Calling.” “They are like telepathy,” he believes, “you get an instinct, like a sixth sense, a gut feeling and you act on it. Not everything can be explained by logic and reason and so the title represents those feelings and ideas that call out to us, without our knowing why.” For Christina Kyi, born in Myanmar and moving to the USA in her teenage years, her return to the land of her birth in 2009 mirrors the return of her script’s hero, Jaden. The film is a chance to expand her developing career as a director, doing things differently than the vast majority of films made in this South East Asian nation best known for the political struggles of its famous heroine, Aung San Suu Kyi. Intensive months spent rewriting the script for “Mudras Calling,” her first narrative feature for the international market, were followed by two months of pre-production before the shoot in Bagan, Yangon, Inle Lake, Mandalay and Taunggyi. Power often goes out in Yangon and directors like Christina Kyi learn to be tough improvisers who roll with the punches. “We really wanted to raise the standard of films in Myanmar,” says producer Mona Strassburger, Kyi’s Producer at Film Myanmar, a Yangon-based production company. That meant doing things differently than the standard Myanmar film, such as holding auditions, preparing wardrobe for the actors, using ADR and spending time for pre-production. The schedule was long at 30 shooting days, “but it was worth it to make sure we got things right,” emphasizes Strassburger. The story follows Jaden, a Burmese-American writing his Master’s Thesis in music, who travels to his birthplace – Myanmar to research traditional music. In the culturally rich ancient country, he finds himself pulled into a journey of faith and discovery which will change him utterly. Unusually for Myanmar 80% of the dialogue is in English, with some Burmese for both the local and international market. This was a challenge for the actors who worked with international acting coach Thierry Bleu. Starting early in the day Bleu did a Method technique training with the 3 main actors adding 5 others who were not cast in the film to enlarge the possibility of different experiences – classical Method acting, exercises, sense memories and improvisations. In the second part of the day he worked only with the main actors exploring the characters and relationships in the story. He then broke down the script to make sure they were understanding the story step by step.


Says Bleu, “Firstly I modified their idea of what it is to be an actor, then I increased the level of concentration, of awareness, the emotional level, to train them to really talk to each other and to do my best helping them to be a cohesive group where the ego is as small as possible for the benefit of telling the story truly and from the heart.” From his years of study in New York and working with actors in Europe, Asia and the USA, Bleu knew that beyond everything, films are team work. The film was shot exclusively using Blackmagic’s Cinema Cameras and Pocket Cinema Camera. Maung Maung Tha Myint, the DP (Director of Photography) on “Mudras Calling,” had used the Blackmagic Cinema Camera before but “Mudras Calling” was the first feature film that he shot entirely on Blackmagic Cameras. “The flexibility and portability of the Blackmagic Cinema Camera is why I decided to shoot with it in the first place,” said Myint. “I can just strip the camera down to just the body and lens to shoot in tight spaces. For this film, the Blackmagic was the A Cam.” “We also used a Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera mounted on our self-assembled 3 axis stabilizer and a Hexacopter as a B Cam. Because our budget was very tight, we had to cut the film guerrilla style in some places to avoid paying expensive filming permits. Also we couldn’t afford a closed set on some locations, where our filming often attracted unwanted audiences. The Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera’s small size and light weight was perfect for our guerrilla-style filmmaking and gimbal stabilizers.” Recorded to 2.5kRAW on the Blackmagic Cinema Cameras and 1080p RAW on the Pocket Cinema Camera, the footage was graded in DaVinci Resolve Studio. “The flexibility of the RAW from Blackmagic cameras is just simply amazing,” said Myint. Director Christina Kyi assimilated into American culture after going to film school in New York City but she was always in touch with traditional Burmese dance. She danced at community shows and one day had the idea of bridging the two cultures by creating two characters with different cultural backgrounds and having them meet and find out about each other. For her, dance was always a central part of the film. The story of a young man in search of his roots who discovers more than he expects upon his return to his birthplace, was the emotional journey of the lead character Jaden. He always wanted to know where he’s from, what kind of people raised him and most importantly was he loved? Working with lead actor Zenn Kyi was especially unique for director Christina Kyi. He is not only the lead actor in “Mudras Calling” but also her husband and father of her young son. Says Christina Kyi, “Working with him is a blessing. I feel lucky because I see how he is so serious about what he does. He is totally committed to his art and craft.” Noted Christina Kyi, “on the set everyone is the same. Most people who came to work on the set for a short time and didn’t know us, didn’t even realize we knew each other. We both understand professionalism and take our jobs seriously. When he shows up on set, he looks like someone else, the character of Jaden, and that’s how I interact with him.”


The casting was an open call announced through newspapers, journals, acting schools and social media. After 3 days of auditions that included acting coach Thierry Bleu, it was clear to all they had found their leading man and woman – Zenn Kyi and Hla Yin Kyae. Bleu worked with all the actors and intensively with the two leads and supporting actress, bringing to the production his years steeped in the Method technique which he learned from New York master Jack Waltzer. Director Christina Kyi discussed the script with acting coach Thierry Bleu and then broke down the script according to her interpretation of the story. Her favorite scene is when Jaden says goodbye to his father at the docks. The challenge of working with non-professional actors as well as those who had some experience, was a challenge but since Kyi is committed to raising the level of movie making in Myanmar, she was happy everyone was learning and would bring this to other work after “Mudras Calling.” Christina Kyi still has the supple stance of a natural dancer. She has learned to bend like a reed in the often challenging environment of the still burgeoning film scene in Myanmar. Her advice to a first time director is “don’t give up – ever” and she embodies that philosophy in her journey to get this film made. Her favorite director is Francis Coppola and “The Godfather” her favorite film. That multi- generational epic full of history and rich characters resonates throughout her work in “Mudras Calling.” Her next film is “Deception” which she started filming right after post production on “Mudras Calling.”



ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS CHRISTINA KYI (Director)

Christina Kyi was born in Myanmar but moved to the USA at an early age with her family. She studied filmmaking at the Gibbs School in New York City absorbing the culture of film in a city famous worldwide for its stars and movie culture. The skills she learned could have earned her a career in the US, but she felt drawn back to the country of her birth to tell the stories of her homeland.

“Mudras Calling” is her first feature film for the international marketplace. She is now in production on her second feature film entitled “Deception,” also shot in Myanmar. She lives in Yangon with her husband and son. MONA STRASSBURGER (Producer) In 2010 Producer Mona Strassburger produced a daily TV show for the Burmese diaspora in the US and Canada, gaining an in depth knowledge of Burmese cinema both past and present. She realized that most films made for the local market were turned out very fast with little regard for story or acting. Burma’s history of movies, nearly a century old, is an illustrious one, but after decades of political stasis and repression it had fallen on hard times. Says Strassburger, a Yangon resident since early 2013, “All most people know of Myanmar is that it’s a developing country and where Aung San Suu Kyi is from. The country is complex and really compelling, with so many fascinating characters and stories.” To be sure Myanmar has been a cipher on the world stage with very little known about it – all that changed in 2012 when the country ushered in economic and political reforms, and have continued with the recent landslide victory for Aung San Suu Kyi’s party in November 2015. Today’s Myanmar is busy building and connecting with the world but there’s a long way to go. Strassburger describes Myanmar as the “Wild Wild West.” She was excited to find many business opportunities when she moved there after working at Fox Studios in Los Angeles, where she focused on issues like production incentives and therefore knew a thriving entertainment industry could positively impact local economies. Her hope has always been to develop the entertainment industry and she had fallen in love with Myanmar from the moment she arrived. Says Strassburger, “it’s a beautiful


diverse country with so much history and unique stories and the people of Myanmar are so warm and kind. I wanted the rest of the world to see the Myanmar that I have experienced.” When director Christina Kyi pitched a rough outline of what was to become “Mudras Calling,” Strassburger connected with the lead character Jaden and his story immediately. As a Thai-American growing up in the USA she knew little of her Thai roots and visited Thailand for the first time in her late 20’s. She had never met her Thai relatives and didn’t know much about the country. So she could identify with Jaden’s need to know more about himself and where he came from and to feeling so totally out of place in a foreign land. She’s especially proud of the fact that “Mudras Calling” is essentially a Burmese movie noting, “the writer/director is Myanmar, all the cast and crew are local (the lead actor Zenn Kyi is Burmese American, born in Mandalay), local equipment was used and all the post production was done in Yangon, Myanmar.” Strassburger feels sure Myanmar films will improve over time, and that the local audience will demand change once they see it is possible to produce quality content locally and watch a wider variety of content from abroad. As there are more theaters and outlets for content and the local industry grows, she hopes the infrastructure will improve and that foreign productions can shoot there - bringing much needed revenue and expertise. Together with people like film “godmother” Swe Zin Htike, affectionately known as ‘Aunty Grace’ throughout Myanmar, she works to get out the word and to do all she can to persuade government and private initiatives to support film production in Myanmar. Her goal is to see more movies about Myanmar actually being filmed in Myanmar as well as foreign productions that look to film in this amazingly diverse location. Having worked on multiple productions and film projects in Myanmar over the past 3 years, she knows the pros and cons of filming in Myanmar. “I’m here for the long haul and committed to being part of the revitalization of the Entertainment Industry here. I know how to get things done and how to solve any problem!” Strassburger is currently working with local and foreign screenwriters on developing other film and TV projects for local shoots and managing logistics for foreign productions filming in Myanmar. U YE MIN (Executive Producer) For U Ye Min, “Mudras Calling” is the first feature film he has produced, an experience he likened to “finding a black cat in the dark.” As the Chairman of Business Alliance Hub, U Ye Min is involved in a wide variety of philanthropy and business in his home city of Yangon. His innovative business provides expertise and resources to foreign


investors in Myanmar. An entrepreneur with over 25 years experience in international trade and business, he speaks fluent Burmese, English, Hindi, Urdu and Memon. His charitable works serve as a platform for people at the grassroots level to benefit from Myanmar’s growth and development. He is committed to helping a generation of entrepreneurs by way of empowering them to achieve their dreams through education and practical training programs. This philosophy is at work in his role as Chairman of H.O.M.E (House of Media and Entertainment) which he founded with famous comedian and fellow political prisoner Zarganar, he is no stranger to the complexity of political situations which have been the state of events in Myanmar for decades. “I’ve always had a passion and dream to be a producer,” says U Ye Min, “especially of a film that meets international standards and can bring stories of Myanmar to the world.” It has not been easy however. The title of the film “Mudras Calling” seemed to U Ye Min at times like his own calling to change decades of neglect and repression of the media industry. Although at one time Myanmar had a thriving and much loved film production scene, it vanished during the dark years of Myanmar’s political troubles. “Working with Mona and Director Christina Kyi, we wanted to make a film within a reasonable budget but with great production value. You just walk out on the street here and you are in an incredible world. Same with the unique city of Bagan and our northern neighbor city Mandalay, which of course is world famous just for its name.” Without the structures that underpin film production, such a complex and demanding task, putting the film together was no easy task. Interest is high on loans in Myanmar, currency issues abound and just getting into locations in the historic sites of Bagan took up time and money. “It’s as if you are doing it all for the first time,” notes U Ye Min. U Ye Min laughs as he says, “Mudras Calling is a great tourist promotion for our country as you get to see it all in detail, the film story takes you inside Shwedagon Pagoda and on bikes, planes and foot up close to see the street life, the palm wine, the wonderful food and people. Of course it is also a story of a young man trying to find out who he is and it was important for me to tell a story that has universal appeal.” U Ye Min hopes it can inspire others to shoot in Myanmar. A producer from overseas had practically given up on getting the locations she wanted when U Ye Min was able to show her the trailer for “Mudras Calling” and what she saw inspired him. He hopes for more productions from overseas that will allow local writers, producers and directors to gain in filmmaking skills. Of the story “Mudras Calling” tells U Ye Min, “Against the backdrop of Myanmar’s best loved cities and countryside a love story plays out between a Myanmar-born foreigner and a Myanmar girl who loves Myanmar culture. The story shows their differences and


how they clash because of them. It has resonance for people all over the world as we are all different but in the end we are all human.” U Ye Min believes the populace will be surprised to hear Burmese actors speaking English. “The actors are unknowns,” he points out, “and that means an audience has to learn to like them and relate to them. If you cast actors who are Burmese Academy Award winning, the audience will be much bigger but for this film we went with fresh casting, so we hope to introduce these actors both to the Burmese and the world audience.” Currently U Ye Min is working on developing other projects in the strong hope and belief that the market and audience for stories from Myanmar will grow and he will have had a part in making that happen. “For now,” he says, “I’m reading a lot and hearing pitches so it’s an exciting time.” GABRIELLE KELLY (Transmedia Producer) A screenwriter and multi faceted producer of diverse content for the global marketplace, Kelly has lived and worked in Asia for decades, most recently teaching at NYU’s graduate film program in Singapore. She is the recipient of two Fulbright Awards: one in screenwriting at Tapei National University of the Arts, Taiwan and the second as writer/mentor in the screenwriting /producing Lab for the ASEAN Independent Cinema Project in the Philippines. A published author, her recently published groundbreaking book “Celluloid Ceiling; Women Film Directors Breaking Through,” is a comprehensive study of women directors from all over the world. Her next book on global development eco-systems for media projects uses her unique expertise in media Labs. Following a career in book publishing, she worked with New York-based director Sidney Lumet and screenwriter/producer Jay Presson Allen on films such as Daniel, Prince of the City, Deathtrap, The Verdict and others. Additional projects she developed include work with Andy Warhol's Factory on an audio-animatronic show From A to Z and Back Again, musical La Cages aux Folles with Mike Nichols and scripts for music maven Malcolm McClaren and CBS Theatrical Films. In Hollywood she ran producer Robert Evans’ company (Godfather, Rosemary’s Baby, Love Story, Chinatown) at Paramount Studios working in development and production on a slate of diverse projects and has worked as executive and producer with such companies as HBO, Fields Hellman, CBS Films, Eddie Murphy Productions and Warner Bros. She is the screenwriter/producer of the music driven transmedia indie film All Ages Night and has consulted on many studio and indie co-productions as writer and producer, including China’s “Empire of Silver,” starring Jennifer Tilly, and “The Edge,”


Russia’s Oscar entry. Her producing credits include Hollywood studio and indie films such as “D.A.R.Y.L,” “Stag,” “All the Queen’s Men,” and others. She has taught screenwriting at USC, Chapman, London’s PAL LABS and for the Middle East Sundance Lab held in Jordan, as well as leading global storytelling seminars in Russia, India, China and all over the world. In transmedia she is currently working on a VR series based on an Indian legend / modern day survival story, a documentary on the Chinese spirit world, and a UK/China coproduction on one of China’s literary giants. With a special interest and passion for Myanmar, she came to Yangon as part of the Memory Film Festival in 2014 to run a scriptwriting Lab and stayed on in spirit to work on ground-breaking projects there to share with the world the amazing stories of Myanmar. “Mudras Calling” is the first such project. MAUNG MAUNG THA MYINT (Cinematographer) Before shooting “Mudras Calling,” Burmese native and cinematographer Maung Maung Tha Myint directed, shot and produced short films and documentaries for local and international clients. He also worked as a Committee Member/Art Director for the first Art of Freedom Film Festival in Yangon, in 2011. His documentary “Flickers” for the Friedrich Naumann Foundation was nominated for Best Documentary at the Freedom Festival in Malaysia in 2013 and he has worked as a country producer and cameraperson for BBC, HBO and Arte, and a Cinematographer for Channel 3 (Thailand) and Asiaworks for Channel News Asia. He also produced multiple PSAs, music videos and commercials for local clients. Myint got involved with “Mudras Calling” as he had worked previously with director Christina Kyi on a local production. He shot “Mudras Calling” on Blackmagic Cameras with a 2.5K EF mount and a pocket cinema camera. Notes Myint, “There were many difficult scenes to shoot like the U Pain Bridge scene, the snakebite scene, the dark interior of the Shwedagon pagoda, but in fact the most difficult of all was the Mandalay hotel rooftop. This was a bar scene shot at night, everyone was very tired and the set was very cramped. Eventually I solved it and it looked good but it was a long hard day!” For Myint, the challenge was in bringing a unique look to the film. He loves the cinematography of the Japanese golden age of cinema and the French New Wave and Hayo Miyazaki’s animation, paintings and graphic novels are a huge inspiration for him. Among his favorite cinematographers are the late Conrad Hall, and Austrailian DP Christopher Doyle, who shot many of Wong Kar Wai’s films and is a dazzling visualist. Taking us through one particularly difficult scene in the famous Shwedagon Pagoda, Myint watched the sun from every direction since the world famous Pagoda is on top of a hill. He noted, “the main problem I had is that it is always full of crowds so it was very hard to capture the golden light and intimacy of the sacred space but I think it turned out very well.”


His favorite scene is when the two lead characters are riding their bikes through the busy streets which he says was a lot of fun to shoot, capturing the energy and focus of the two main characters as they pursue their investigation to find Jaden’s birth parents. Notes Myint, “The three biggest challenges were crowd control, the limitation on locations we used and sometimes the limitations of equipment where I had to improvise due to light and other issues.” He is currently working on various projects and preparing his own feature film which he will shoot in 2017. ZENN KYI (Composer) Lead actor Zenn Kyi is also the composer of much of the music for “Mudras Calling.” He says, “The director and I share the same vision for the final product. I know exactly what she wants. We have worked together a lot - actually we are married. This can work well or not, but we are very separate when working. We are in our professional roles. I respect her as a director and she respects my work as an actor and in the case of “Mudras Calling,” also the composer.” “We had a lot of traditional music in the film and it was a strong part of the storyline. For the scoring, many of the pieces were improvised and I was inspired by the images. I pulled very few pieces out of my file of short compositions. “ Asked how he wanted to use the traditional Burmese music in the sound track, Zenn said, “Besides the performances, for which I had the traditional orchestra perform the classical pieces, I tried to infuse the traditional melodies in some places to enhance the authenticity of the given scenario. It’s not just Burmese though. For the scenes in Inle Lake, which is in the Shan state, I mixed the Shan melody with some blues music. The traditional music (including Burmese ethnic music) and the blues were a really interesting combination.” His goal stated Zenn was, “I wanted to create a feeling of nostalgia, that Jaden is coming back home but it’s a home he never really knew, he was a baby when he was forced to leave Myanmar so it has an undertone of sadness, of loss.” “Our recording sessions were fun and exhausting but wildly exciting to watch the sequence come to life right before your eyes and ears. I hired session players but for “Mudras Calling” it’s mostly me performing except for the boat trip piece where I had a percussionist join me. His name is Nay Thit Moe and he’s really great to work with. All sorts of different composers inspire me including Mozart, Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix, and Ray Charles.”


THIERRY BLEU (Acting Coach) Thierry Bleu, a native of France, really connected with Producer Mona Strassburger when she learned he had long wanted to bring acting in Asia to another level using his training in New York in the famed Method Technique, which he learned from renowned coach Jack Waltzer. Method acting is a way of training actors so that their performances are natural and close to life. Actors such as Marilyn Monroe, Steven McQueen and Denzel Washington are famed for their use of the Method technique. Bleu had but 3 weeks to train the actors for “Mudras Calling”, most of whom were working in English, not their native Burmese. He helped with the casting, focusing with the director on the most important question in the Method acting technique – who is the character? Some had never acted before and time was short. Director Christina Kyi very much wanted to work with actors in a more natural emotional way and not follow the rigid and formulaic style of local acting. Bleu found the actors willing but lacking in training. Hla Yin Kyae, the female lead, had trained the longest in a local school, however this had set habits which were the opposite of what Bleu and the Director wanted. She had to unlearn the more external type of acting with more conventional attitudes and dig deep into herself. The exercises were demanding but also exhilarating – the actors were exhausted but inspired! Zenn Kyi, the leading man, thought a lot about his character and worked with Bleu’s method to connect in an emotional way with Jaden, the searching and troubled young man who is the protagonist of the story. “They had tremendous good will,” remembered Bleu, “but it was really all about unlearning and letting go, not easy in a society that is very much about presentation and saving face.” “It was hard work for them because it was the first time they had to express themselves this way and some were without any experience at all. I would say it was one of the biggest challenges I had on any film, but also one of the biggest achievements. It’s truly amazing what happened.” With production booming now in Asia there is the possibility to grow the artistic potential of the region. “Talent is a gift,” says Bleu, “and you have it or not. But to reveal and reach the best of talent, means intensive work for a long period of time and it’s really a life long pursuit. Talent, like sports, needs constant refreshing, feeding of the soul and the international level of acting is so high now, musicians, dancers, they all continue training professionally all their lives and so must an actor. There are no miracles.”


Bleu insisted that “What the audience will see and feel is what is happening inside the actor, not just the behavior and actions. I trained them first to show what they feel inside. Then they connected with how to show that in a Burmese way that is natural for them.” Ultimately Bleu kept a sense of fun as he trained hard with the actors of “Mudras Calling.” He says “serious work does not mean you have to be boring, “and this got the group through the hours and days of training. While it is yet early days for the young actors of Myanmar, films like “Mudras Calling” can be the change that will really make a difference and Bleu is sure he’ll return often to Myanmar. Currently working on in India on a Bollywood movie, it certainly is a world away from his work on “Mudras Calling” and for Thierry Bleu, another challenge but one he loves, in his adopted homeland of Asia.



ABOUT THE CAST ZENN KYI (Jaden, Male Lead) Of his character Jaden, Zenn Kyi said, “I play a Burmese-American guy named Jaden Williams. As the name suggests he knows almost nothing about his roots – his Burmese roots. Somewhere in his heart he feels the need to find out where he is from. The trip he takes back to Myanmar is his response to that calling. He is a foster child so he’s been through a lot in his childhood and he has wounds that need to be healed but he doesn’t know how to do that. He’s looking for some sort of spiritual closure.” Kyi, the charismatic actor who plays the male lead in “Mudras Calling” started out in the movie business as a sound designer so he became familiar with the world of filmmaking. He also composed the original songs in the soundtrack and counts himself an actor who is also a musician. His role as a graduate student studying traditional music came easily to him as he feels, “Music is just something I respond to on a very visceral level. A song can come to me and I’m looking for a way of writing it down before it vanishes. It’s also a balance to acting as it taps different parts of me and I really enjoy composing even when it’s a challenge as it was for some scenes in the film.” Kyi feels “Mudras Calling” marks a turning point in his work as an actor. Once he was cast he was determined to do the best possible job as he became compelled by the process of rendering a character on screen. The acting workshop with international acting coach Thierry Bleu was a turning point. Bleu, who works in the world famous Method acting style used by internationally renowned actors, forced Zenn out of his comfort zone and sparked a fire in him he didn’t know he had. Says Kyi, “It was enthralling, exhausting, stimulating and terrifying and not in that order. It scared me, because working with Thierry I had to dig deep into my soul, the good side and the bad side. It’s the bad side that scares me!” Though he had been in short films before his role as Jaden, the lead role in “Mudras Calling” was a challenge on another level noted Kyi. “It was quite challenging. I’d just done the acting workshop with Thierry Bleu and found myself able to use the Method Acting technique. The expectation level of the production was quite high. I was under a lot of pressure because “doing” nothing and just staying in the situation truthfully was about the hardest thing I’ve ever done.” Although he grew up in the USA and Myanmar Kyi realized, “as I played the role, I was playing a foreigner but I had already been to all the places I was supposed to be seeing for the first time. I speak Burmese fluently but I had to act as if I did not, I know the


culture and yet I had to be someone who didn’t know it. I had to un-know in a way all of who I am and it was definitely difficult and brought me to another level in my acting.” What Kyi learned from this film was myriad lessons on many different levels, “I reflected upon the scenes I doubted and thought about how I could do them differently. I also learned about acting beats which directly affects the rhythm of the story. Most importantly I learned the importance of breaking down the script and preparing the character.” Outside the cities, Myanmar is an extremely underdeveloped country. Notes Kyi, “There was nothing there but jungle and enormous ants! The snakebite scene was very physical and we shot it over 3 days for the continuity. Getting to the medicine man’s hut was taxing. The heat and humidity is extreme but it was fun, we had a great team and our director Christina Kyi inspired us all to do our best work.” Benicio del Toro is the actor that most inspires Kyi, but he was also inspired by the supporting actors in “Mudas Calling” because they did so much with so little training and threw themselves into making the film as good as it could be. “I like films that are well made ranging from animation to movies that want to be completely entertaining. I really loved “Carol,” starring Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett, directed by Todd Haynes. The cinematography is mesmerizing. Everything you see in the frame is a deliberation.” Kyi is currently working on another feature, “Deception.” HLA YIN KYAE (Hnin Thuzar, Female Lead)

Burmese actress Hla Yin Kyae, the enigmatic beauty who plays the female lead Hnin Thuzar, worked hard to get this leading role. After little success as a model and actress in her early twenties, she worked at a restaurant in Dubai for two and half years. When she returned to Yangon it was with renewed intent to pursue her dreams as an actress and find a role where she could really stretch. She found this in “Mudras Calling.” She studied her character in depth before her audition to find out who she was and what made her tick. Realizing Hnin is a very traditional girl, Hla Yin Kyae could really relate to her. Such a girl may suffer family estrangement if she becomes involved with someone of a different nationality and religion. Traditions in Myanmar still exert a very strong influence and Hnin struggles to keep her head in control while her heart is telling her to go in a different direction. “The first day of shooting was the most difficult,” notes Hla Yin Kyae. It was not a huge production but there were so many crew people and I felt the urgency of time pressure to get the scene right. I had to do the same take many times but I had studied with


acting coach Thierry Bleu and I drew on some of the meditation techniques he taught us to focus my thoughts and then the first take went really well.” “All the scenes were demanding in their own way and I learned a good deal about all the different people who work on the crew as well as the other cast. The director has trained overseas so some of her techniques were new to me but they were exciting artistically. Although Hnin is someone I can relate to very well from my own life, I still knew from working with the director and acting coach that in order to really make her a believable character I had to really get under the skin of the character. That was challenging but very interesting.” The most difficult scene was when Hnin was bitten by a viper and her life was in danger. This is also when Jaden realizes his feelings for her. He will do anything to save her life. Noted Hla Yin Kyae, “we didn’t have an actual viper which was good as they are very dangerous. It took three days to shoot that scene since it was in a distant location and it was demanding being so deep in the jungle. The worst thing about shooting the scene was the fact I sat on a pile of ants! That was really awful!” She cites Burmese actress Htun Eaindra Bo, Oscar winner Meryl Streep and Australian actress Nicole Kidman as inspiration. “The Theory of Everything” and “Danish Girl” are her favorite films. Her dream is to play an action role in a spy thriller and to this end, she is working on a short screenplay course and continuing her acting studies and roles wherever she can. NANN WAI WAI HTUN – (Nu Nu, Friend of Female Lead) Nann Wai Wai Htun plays the funny and wisecracking friend of the female lead Hnin Thuzar. With her comedic timing and warmth she felt at home playing this role and was easily able to bond with Hnin, as if they’d been friends all along. Having only been in a small video beforehand she was nervous about taking on a bigger role in a feature film. The most difficult scene was where her best friend Hnin is bitten by a viper. Says Nann, “It was a heavy scene with a lot of emotion and drama. It’s such an important scene in the movie and I wanted to do the best job possible. When we were rehearsing I was very focused on that but when Jaden carries her away from the jungle to the medicine man I felt real emotion and started to cry. It isn’t so easy to speak English, my second language, in such times as I naturally felt I was trying to express myself in Burmese. But I was able to do it and I think the scene worked very well.” Because she is from the countryside she felt at home in the scenes set in the jungle and learned a lot about Burmese history as her character is a researcher who knows a lot about Bagan, the beautiful city of stupas and ancient ruins.


She worked hard to incorporate what she learned in Thierry Bleu’s Acting Workshop noting, “I had to prepare a lot of scary stories in my mind to get into character. For example, during the snakebite scene I was okay, but later in the evening, back at the hotel, I had a lot of nightmares!” Nann draws inspiration from her favorite actress, Angelina Jolie, noting that Jolie visited Myanmar and went to poor villages and talked to everyone, “Her mind and soul are pure. I think it was dangerous for her, but she wasn’t afraid.” Citing her favorite movie as “Ip Man” because she loves martial arts and actions movies, Nann also notes the film is about dignity and family. She would love to star in an action movie and hopes for a more developed film industry in Myanmar where that dream can come true. Inspired by people like Steve Jobs who changed lives and whose work lives on, she is currently working on improving her English, “one of the most difficult languages to learn,” she says. THIT HTOO AUNG (Medicine Man) Working as a chef and part of a local TV series which showcased his talents, Thit Htoo Aung heard there was a movie being shot locally and decided to audition.

“I think there was knowledge in my background as a chef that I could use in my role as a medicine man. This is a character we know well here in Myanmar. He would be well known by the villagers of the area as someone who saves lives. But not just with medicine but also the spiritual powers from his meditation and good deeds.”

This is an instance of the vérité style of director Christina Kyi’s approach, using the traditions of her native country in fictional characters. At times they are almost like people in a documentary observed in their daily lives in the simple villages which make up so much of Myanmar.

Says Aung, “I studied how the medicine man worked and even the plants he used so I could bring some truth to the role. Just as a chef knows how to run a kitchen, and if they are a good chef, they run it very well, so I approached the life and work of the medicine man. The costume really put me in the mindset of the character. I chewed the betel leaf which has a numbing effect and is very popular in Myanmar.”

Some scenes were very difficult and when the camera rolled Aung noted “once I just froze and couldn’t move. Luckily the camera rolled again and what I learned with Mr. Bleu came back to me – who the character really was, then the lines came naturally to me.” Aung was impressed by the team work and management of a film crew. Although some of it was like running a kitchen, he noted making films is more complicated because, “So much is at stake when you try to get actors to create a character. I felt the responsibility


to show this medicine man, a very important person to the villages of my country, in a proper way.”

Currently working on his next cooking show, Aung cites local actor U Kyaw Hein as an inspiration. His favorite TV Show is “Walking Dead,” and he’d like to plunge back into acting again as soon as possible. “I feel I have some training and experience now and relish the thought of a new role to explore.” SWE ZIN HTAIK Daw Swe Zin Htaik, a winner of many Burmese Academy Awards, is perhaps Myanmar’s most revered actress. She has a cameo in the local language version of “Mudras Calling” and as a veteran of the movie business she has much to share about the history of cinema in Myanmar. How did you become an actress and what was the movie business like in the past? “Actresses used to wear a lot of make up and be very formal. I was part of the New Wave of actors and actresses who were more natural and went for a more realistic approach to acting. I stopped acting in 1993 after nearly 20 years and 200 movies. In 1991 I served as one of the organizers of the very first Myanmar Motion Picture Organization (MMPO). After 1998 I started to feel that we actors would be used as propagandists for the ruling government and that when I was in front of the camera I would not be able to be myself. That is when I decided to switch my career to behind the camera and I became a producer and director.” What happened next? “In the 90s I focused on capacity building in Myanmar. I was a volunteer for the UNICEF immunization campaign and participated in a lot of workshops about health education. In 1999 I joined PSI because I was planning to launch a mass media campaign for HIV education. At first I was working completely alone but ultimately we developed some strong media strategies and produced TV series and short films. I also established interns, education programs and recruited some media experts to establish the broadcast media unit as a communication department.” Was “Mudras Calling” your first acting role since retirement? “Yes! One of my dreams is to have more English content for the Myanmar Film Industry. I was very happy to hear “Mudras Calling” was going to be shot in English and Burmese. That’s why I decided to come out of retirement!” How did it feel to be back in front of the camera again?


“Not really very different! Though I had stopped acting I still appeared on TV shows as a commentator or in small roles here and there.” As one of the foremost historians of Myanmar Film and a big part of the New Wave, what do you think of Myanmar Film today? “I would love to have another New Wave. Myanmar has been impacted by the digital new wave that has affected all film worldwide. It’s actually the 3rd wave. The first was video in the 80’s then the markeplace disappeared when VCD’s came into the market. Now we have the 3rd wave of online distribution and piracy. To promote our local content during the 3 or 4 years that I participated in the international film festivals, I noticed that we needed English speaking content that can compete with an international audience. I want to thank the “Mudras Calling” production and those who financed and produced the film, U Ye Min and Mona Strassburger, and the team of director Christina Kyi and actor Zenn Kyi. Today I am working as head of International Relations at the MMPO. I began as the Joint Secretary in 2006, when U Kyi Soe Tun (MMPO Chairman at the time) asked me to help him. We later formed what is now the International Relations Committee. I was trying to have Myanmar be more involved in the international film festivals held in Asia. It is a huge amount of work but my passion toward this film industry drives me to help film development here in Myanmar. In many ways our sensibility here in Myanmar is closer to the art house films of Europe rather than the more commercial work from the USA. I think we need both. I am arranging free script development workshops because everyone asks what scripts we have of our stories and filmmakers here need to learn how to write good and professionally presented scripts. 40 people will attend our latest script writing workshop and I hope we can find 3 or 4 stories that would work for the international marketplace. We need to work with festivals, markets and Labs to enhance and encourage our filmmakers to tell their stories. My dream is to organize the Centennial Festival of the Myanmar Motion Picture Association in 2020. I will organize pre-Centennial activities with a conference covering theory and practice with invited guests from all over the world. I want to organize an international film festival to commemorate our 100 year anniversary. It will include showing some of our most famous films in 35mm like “Mya Gaining” which is currently being restored. Training, celebrating our history, learning and making the best films we can will allow our history and our present to be shared with the world.”

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Documents

Mudras Calling PRESS KIT Final Wordmudrascalling.com/files/2016/09/Mudras-Calling-PRESS-KIT-Final-PDF.… · Hla Yin Kyae Nann Wai Wai Htun Contact Information: Mona Strassburger