'BURMA VJ' (2009). REVIEW, by Andreas Schuck

Ask yourself – what do you know about Burma? Burma VJ goes beyond the occasional news clips from Burma and its oppressive military regime and brings us close to those young video journalists who insist on keeping up the flow of news from their closed country despite risking torture and life in jail. The tour they are taking us on makes the situation in Burma tangible for us and makes us realize how little we know. 'Joshua', 27, is one of the young journalists, our psychological lens, and in Burma VJ we follow his footsteps, experience the uprising against the regime through his eyes, march with him, run away with him, see what he sees, feel what he feels - and also what we rather would not want to see or feel.

© Kamoli Films

In fact, it does not really get more realistic than seeing dead monks floating down the river or being beaten up on the streets or in their monasteries. Or those very journalists covering the events being arrested and carried away in front of our eyes. However, what is more impressive is the passion and hope in the eyes of those marching through the streets and the courage of those risking their own lives to enable us to get the full picture of what is really going on.

Burma VJ is directed by acclaimed filmmaker Anders Østergaard and won awards at the Sundance Film Festival, Berlin Film Festival, Hotdocs and the Full Frame Doc Film Festival. Finally, it won the main competition at the International Documentary Film Festival (IDFA) here in Amsterdam, where it was awarded the Joris Ivens Award for best feature-length documentary. Last but not least it was nominated for an Oscar for best documentary last year.

Depending on volcano Eyjafjallajökull's activity today and tomorrow we are hopeful to welcome some interesting guests from Amnesty and Free Voice (an NGO promoting freedom of expression) to our movie screening who have been to Burma, know about the situation (and how it has further developed after the release of the movie) and will be ready to answer your questions. Together we will discuss how we can expect the situation in Burma to further develop, what happened to those journalists who made the movie afterwards, but also what is the power and what are the boundaries of journalists in situations such as this.

Thus, come along, bring your friends, and see you tomorrow!