Showcasing three artists from the emerging arts scene in Myanmar

Myanmar is today experiencing massive growth and change. Democratization has been moving forward since Thein Sein became president in 2011, while freedom to assembly, long restricted under the junta, is now allowed. This has led to an increase in public events, making it easier to hold performances in a variety of places. The spread of Internet access is also accelerating the flow of information and international interchange, creating a wide variety of new forms of expression.

These three artists work in different disciplines and fields but all explore issues of Myanmar’s identity. Simultaneously experiencing their divergent work, audiences will be introduced to the intersecting range of the local scene in a similar way to the roundabout junctions commonly found in Yangon.

The Maw Naing has gained attention at global film festivals for his drama “The Monk”. For Festival/Tokyo, he will present installations and video works, as well as his own performance. Nyan Lin Htet leads his own theatre company called Theatre of the Disturbed and creates work that contrasts with the mainstream performing arts movement. He studied contemporary theatre and has translated and adapted plays from the European canon. His own theatre is a highly satirical take on Myanmar society. The musician and producer Thxa Soe, on the other hand, turns to traditional Burmese music for inspiration, mixing his electronic club sounds with folk songs and hsaing waing ensemble instruments used in religious rites and puppet theatre.

The venue will be designed by award-winning architect and artist Fumihiko Sano. In this way, the second installment of the Asia Series will be a truly reciprocal event between different disciplines and styles, and between Japan and Myanmar.

Asia Series

This program was launched at Festival/Tokyo 2014 with a showcase of Korean performing arts. This year, F/T turns to the burgeoning scene in Myanmar. Each time the festival selects a country or region from Asia and spends time researching the performing arts through fieldwork and exchange with local practitioners. The aim is to increase awareness of the complex network of languages, cultures and arts in Asia, and develop interchange among performing arts peers across the continent.

Post-Performance Talk Guests

(1) 11/13 15:00 (Program A) (talk starts around 16:15): The Film Scene in Myanmar
Guests: The Maw Naing + Keiko Sei (curator, media activist, writer)

Internationally acclaimed Myanmar filmmaker The Maw Naing is joined by Keiko Sei, who launched a film festival in Myanmar, to discuss the local cinema scene.

Keiko Sei (curator, media activist, writer)
Since 1988, Keiko Sei has researched media and independent media in Eastern Europe and worked with activists and artists in the region to establish independent media scene, while starting numerous media-related projects, including “The Media Are With Us!: The Role of Television in the Romanian Revolution” (Budapest, 1990), “POLITIK-UM/New Engagement”, (Prague, 2002), and “Re-designing East”, (Stuttgart, Gdansk, Budapest, Seoul, 2009-2013). In 2002, she moved her base to Southeast Asia and continues her activity in the region, especially in Myanmar, where she started film and video education. She teaches in the Czech Republic and Germany, and writes for publications worldwide, including springerin (Austria).

(2) 11/15 15:00 (Program A) (talk starts around 16:15): The Theatre Scene in Myanmar
Guests: Nyan Lin Htet + Atsuko Hisano (Program Director, the Saison Foundation)

Leading avant-garde theatre talent in Myanmar, Nyan Lin Htet, is joined by the Saison Foundation’s Atsuko Hisano, who has recently conducted groundwork research in Myanmar. The pair will discuss why Nyan Lin Htet chose the field of “theatre” in Myanmar, where performance art is rather the mainstream.

Atsuko Hisano (Program Director, the Saison Foundation)
Atsuko Hisano is a program director of the Saison Foundation, a private-sector grant-making foundation, established in 1987 in Tokyo. It is dedicated to contributing to the advancement of the arts, primarily in the fields of contemporary Japanese theater and dance, and to promoting cultural exchange between Japan and overseas. She traveled to Yangon with support from Festival/Tokyo to observe the cultural scene there in 2014. Coincidentally, she was also part of the audience for the international collaboration project “Henna Has Not Menstruated for Five Years, Since Loved by a Spaceman” by Theatre Annees Folles, in which Nyan Lin Htet performed in 2003.

Myanmar is today experiencing rapid growth as foreign investment pours in due to the recent shift towards democratization. F/T’s second Asia Series program turns to examine this new and exciting scene through the work of three artists. This talk will provide an overview of general social issues in Myanmar, as well as the nation’s unique puppet theatre and other traditional arts, and the arts in Myanmar today in the context of Southeast Asia. The guest speakers are cultural anthropologist Katsumi Tamura, an expert on Myanmar culture and history, and Rina Igarashi, who has a long association with the arts in Myanmar and Southeast Asia.

Myanmar Film Screenings: “The Monk” (screening & talk)

11/18 (Wed) 18:00
Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre (Atelier East)
Guests: The Maw Naing (director), Aung Min (screenwriter)

As part of the Asia Series Vol.2: Myanmar “Roundabout in Yangon” showcase, F/T is screening a selection of films from Myanmar. “The Monk” is the first fiction film directed by The Maw Naing, who is also presenting work at “Roundabout in Yangon”. The screening features a talk with The Maw Naing and screenwriter Aung Min about the film (in Myanmar language with Japanese interpretation).

11/11 (Wed) 20:30
Venue: Theater Pole-Pole Higashi-Nakano
Guest: The Maw Naing (director)

The acclaimed film “The Monk” is screened for the first time in Japan at Theater Pole-Pole Higashi-Nakano, followed by a talk with director The Maw Naing (in Myanmar language with Japanese interpretation).