The Monk

Director: The Maw Naing
Czech Republic, Myanmar | Burmese
2014 | 95min | Colour
Subtitles: English
Friday, Nov 6 TIPA, 2:45 PM
Presented in collaboration with the Asian Cultural Council. 

Zawana is confronted with several paths that open out defiantly before him, and he has to choose which one to take as the next step on his life’s journey. The youth enters a small village monastery somewhere in Burma, led by its superior U Dahma. Zawana and the other novices are, as befits their age, playful and disobedient, and they find it hard to abide by the laws of the monastic robe. However, when U Dahma, who hasn’t been running the monastery with a particularly firm hand, falls ill, the young man realises that perhaps it’s time to step out resolutely onto one of the paths and surrender to the school of life – and not only because his superior’s death could mean the closure of the monastery. This fragile film draws the viewer into a remarkable environment, intelligibly portraying a vulnerable and crucial period in the protagonists’ lives without superfluous dialogue. The story moves away from aspects of meditation and even spirituality, focusing more on universal values and desires, whose fulfilment itself presents a difficult challenge.

The Maw Naing

The Maw Naing graduated in Burmese Literature and IT Technologies, attended Yangon Film School in Yangon and the film directing track of the AP Program of the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU) taught in English. He is a poet, a performance artist, a painter and a filmmaker. His first book of verse, published in 2004, is a poignant commentary on the political upheavals in Myanmar in surrealistic imagery. The Maw Naing’s poems do not just examine the present-day social situation, but also the role of the subject in it with the author himself becoming a field of experimentation for changes in meaning. His poems often form an integral part of his installations, performances and films, which have earned him several awards. His short documentary Again and Again won a special prize at the 2008 ZEBRA Poetry Film Festival in Berlin, Germany. This film is still being shown in Europe. His first feature length documentary Nargis: When Time Stopped Breathing (2012) won four prizes from international film festivals.

Credits

Director: The Maw Naing
Producer: Vit Janecek
Screenwriter: Aung Min
Cinematographer: Tin Win Naing
Editor: Zaw Win Htwe
Sound: Jan Richtr
Production Companies: FAMU, One Point Zero
Cast: Kyaw Nyi Thu, Han Newe Nyein, Thein Swe Myint, Moe San

Festival Appearances & Awards

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2014 – Forum of Independents Competition
Anonimul International Film Festival 2014 – Grand Prix
Singapore International Film Festival 2014
Busan International Film Festival 2014
Five Flavours Asian Film Festival 2014
Calcutta International Film Festival 2014