By Emily Hong
Above and Below the Ground
In Myanmar’s first and only country-wide environmental movement, Indigenous women activists and punk rock pastors defend a sacred river from a Chinese-built megadam through protest, prayer, and Karaoke music videos.
Country : Myanmar
Original languages : Burmese, Jinghpaw
Director
Emily Hong (Republic of Korea (South Korea) / United States)Producers
Emily Hong (Republic of Korea (South Korea) / United States)Maggie Lemere (United States)
Ja Nang Tsen (Myanmar)
Rhiza Collective
Impact Producer
Ji San (United States)Duration
86'Production status
CompletedCompletion
August 2023
Impact Statement
As an Asian women-led team, we wanted to make a film – which centres women as environmental leaders – that we would have loved to see as young women. For us, combatting the climate crisis requires not only an understanding of its problems but the will to envision creative and empowering solutions. Our film encourages audiences to imagine different ways of living and relating to our planet. That requires unlearning colonial ways of dominating the environment and learning from the wisdom of our non-Western ancestors. Our film’s women leaders and BLAST rock band are doing just that, while reinventing ancestral wisdom for a new generation.