Race to restore Myanmar cinema classics for a second screening – LIFE



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The restoration of a 1934 black and white action film, famous for its majestic aerobatics, including a hot air balloon escape and a jungle shootout against teak thieves, spurred the Myanmar's declining film heritage. 19659002] The survival of the first film of Myanmar still exists,
Mya Ga Naing
(The Emerald Jungle), and its international popularity is perhaps as unlikely as the triumph of its leading role on pythons and bandits with bare hands.

The once flourishing film scene in the Southeast Asian country is facing a serious setback. from a military junta in 1962 that imposed strict censorship and emptied the economy during a 50-year reign. While the creative climate prevailed, Myanmar's ruthless heat, torrential rains and sweltering humidity wreaked havoc on dandruff in a country that had neither the resources nor the know-how for them. store properly.

Some reels have been recycled to save money and only about ten of the country's first black-and-white images remain.
Mya Ga Naing
, originally a silent movie that later added music and printed title cards, is the oldest to have been found up here.

He languished in state archives for decades before Italian specialists spent a year retouching -frame projection of the restored version in 2016.

"Whenever the restoration progressed, it was like a new birth for the film, "said Severine Wemaere, co-founder of MEMORY! Cinema, which oversaw the restoration and raised funds from donors for a price of $ 1,00,000. "It was very moving because we could say we were in a movie country."

The classic has also performed at festivals in Singapore, Thailand and Switzerland, as well as regular screenings in Myanmar. While almost all the first films were lost, the rebirth
Mya Ga Naing
stimulates a movement to preserve what remains.

The next film to be restored in 2017 was
Pyo
Chit Lin
(My Darling), a 1950 comedy shot on such a tight budget that director Tin Myint had to choose between sound or color.

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