Award-winners at the Wathann Film Festival. From right: Nyi Lynn Htet, Khin Myanmar, Lamin Oo. German filmmaker Mark Eberle is on the left.
A Yangon-based film following a football-mad manager at the city docks nabbed the prize for Best Documentary at the fifth annual Wathann Film Festival, which wrapped up Sunday.
The Special One, by Lamin Oo, tells the story of a charismatic boss who asks his employees to wear Chelsea FC shirts as they lug around fish at work everday.
The nine-minute film was selected by a panel of three foreign and local experts, including German documentary filmmaker Mark Eberle, for its light-hearted approach to the subject.
“The witty and creative approach to storytelling proved to be as important as the story itself,” said Eberle, announcing the winner before a hundreds-strong crowd in the Waziya Cinema.
“[The film] manages to set the life story and the story of Myanmar society in transition in a global context.”
Accepting the award, Lamin Oo – who was name-checked by US President Barack Obama last year – thanked his colleagues with a football metaphor.
“It’s because of my team that I can shoot the goal,” he said.
Best Short Film went to The Missing, a short semi-autobiographical film shot from the point-of-view of a young girl whose father is arrested during political upheaval in the 1990s.
Director Khin Myanmar said she had pictured herself winning the award after the enthusiastic applause her film prompted.
“That was just my imagined award – now I have the award physically,” she said.
The New Vision award, which celebrates experimental filmmaking, was given to Fourteen Degrees Celsius, 100 Miles Per Hour by Nyi Lynn Htet.
The film, which the jury dubbed “surreal, grotesque and humorous,” follows a young man determined to reclaim his missing painting.
Each winner received K500,000 (around $390) and Black Magic Cameras from main sponsor Blackmagic Design.
Dozens of local and international films were screened over the four-day long festival.
Speaking to aspiring filmmakers, Eberle stressed the importance of watching documentaries and telling stories that entertain the audience.
“Some [documentary filmmakers] see themselves as activists, others see themselves as artists or entertainers, which is important because a lot of the films I saw here were very important but they were all very, very serious.
“The power of the medium of film is emotion. If I go to the cinema, I want to be entertained – I don’t want to be educated so much. If I want to be educated I can go to university.To do both – to educate and to entertain – that’s the power of film.”
Photo / Courtesy of Tagu Films
Reader Interactions