Myanmar police say homegrown porn is ‘technology-related’ crime

Myanmar police said Wednesday they have launched a criminal investigation into what producers describe as the first high-definition pornographic movie ever filmed in the socially conservative country.

Social media exploded this week when a trailer for the two-hour erotic movie, entitled “The Violet of Myanmar”, was posted on Facebook by the production company Art of Myanmar.

On Monday the firm said it was proud to have “launched Burma’s first ever HD” pornographic film and promised to bring more hardcore action soon.

They later said their Viber account crashed after it received more than 2,000 messages in 24 hours from eager customers.

But the firm’s Facebook page was taken down two days later and police said Wednesday they had opened an investigation into the production company.

“Myanmar police are now in the process of investigating to take action, especially the crime department,” the head of the force’s Communication and Technology Department, Colonel Tun Nay Win, told AFP.

He added that “the case is concerned with technology” but declined to give further details on what laws the company may have violated.

Section 292 of the Penal Code forbids putting into circulation “any obscene book, pamphlet, paper, drawing, painting, representation or figure or any other obscene object whatsoever.”

The law comes with a penalty of up to three months in prison, or six months if the material is marketed to people under the age of 20.

However, that law does not mention technology, making it more likely that the producers of the film are suspected of violating the Electronic Transactions Law or the Telecommunications Law. The latter was used to prosecute poet Maung Saungkha for publishing a poem on Facebook in which the speaker claims to have a tattoo of “the president” on his penis.

Many people are deeply religious in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, and even talking about sex is often considered taboo.

The actress in “The Violet of Myanmar” wears a surgical mask and has her face blurred throughout the film.

Art of Myanmar said it had had cost them 400,000 kyat ($300) to make the film, which was inspired by the protagonist’s bright purple traditional skirt.