Synopsis: Armed with pocket-sized video cameras, a tenacious band of Burmese reporters face down death to expose the repressive regime controlling their country. In 2007, after decades of self-imposed silence, Burma became headline news across the globe when peaceful Buddhist monks led a massive rebellion. More than 100,000 people took to the streets protesting a cruel dictatorship that has held the country hostage for more than 40 years. Foreign news crews were banned, the Internet was shut down, and Burma was closed to the outside world. So how did we witness these events? Enter the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), aka the Burma VJs. Compiled from the shaky handheld footage of the DVB, acclaimed filmmaker Anders Ostergaard’s Burma VJ pulls us into the heat of the moment as the VJs themselves become the target of the Burmese government. [Synopsis courtesy of Sundance Film Festival]
Anders Østergaard's "Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country" took home the Golden Gate Award for best investigate documentary, which comes with a $25,000 cash prize, last night as the 52nd San Francisco International Film Festival came to a close. The film, being released in theaters next week ...
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