Buddhist Film Foundation joined with San Francisco Bay Area activists and filmmakers to create the Burma Spring Benefit Film Festival (BSBFF) in response to the humanitarian and civil rights crisis triggered by the military coup in Burma. Over 7000 tickets to films were booked by passholder/donors from around the world, with nearly $50,000 raised.
Originally scheduled to end on June 13, 2021, the online event was extended through June 20 due to the enthusiastic response, and eventually featured forty-one films, over a dozen speakers presented in daily live forums—including two ministers of the recently formed National Unity Government (NUG)—and links to key resources. All donations received will directly benefit humanitarian aid through grassroots organizations working in Burma.
“We are delighted the festival reached so many people with timely information about what’s happening in my country right now,” said Kenneth Wong, one of the organizers, who is a Burmese-American author, translator, and Burmese language teacher at UC Berkeley. “Between the films and the speakers, passholders got a wide range of views—both historic and recent—giving them a better understanding of the current crisis in Burma. The international support for the festival was far greater than we had anticipated.”
The Myanmar (Burma) military forcibly removed the democratically elected government on February 1, and detained Nobel Laureate and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win Myint, and other elected civilian government leaders and activists. Since then, the junta has arrested thousands of citizens, killed hundreds of unarmed protesters, conducted lethal airstrikes on ethnic villages, and seized the bank accounts of international NGOs. Many activists, journalists, lawmakers, and rights advocates have gone into hiding or exile. The NUG has been formed by leading legislators, ethnic minority leaders, and civil disobedience movement activists.
The films were curated from all over the world, many chosen from international film festivals, including documentaries and dramas, with a very strong sampling of filmmakers from Burma. “The filmmaker community really responded to our urgent invitations,” said Gaetano Kazuo Maida, executive director of Buddhist Film Foundation, one of the organizers. Among the titles were internationally celebrated films Aung San Suu Kyi—Lady of No Fear, Ghost Fleet, Burma VJ, Golden Kingdom, My Buddha Is Punk, and Burma Soldier. The world premiere of Padauk: Myanmar Spring, by filmmakers Jeanne Marie Hallacy, Rares Michael Ghilezan, and Gregg Butensky was added after the festival began, and garnered the highest number of views. Other top performers were Burma Spring 21, Burma Storybook, A Thousand Mothers, On the Inside of A Military Dictatorship, and Burmese Days.
Jeanne Hallacy, one of the festival organizers, assembled a lineup of over a dozen key speakers, offering timely panel discussions about Burma. Wong and Hallacy shared moderation duties. Speakers include Wai Wai Nu (Women’s Peace and Development Network), Debbie Stothard (ALTSEAN-BURMA), Toe Zaw Latt (Democratic Voice of Burma TV Bureau Chief), Brad Adams (Human Rights Watch), Khin Ohmar (Progressive Voice), and NUG ministers Aung Myo Min and Naw Susannah Hla Hla Soe. Videos of these speaker events remain available on the festival site and on the festival’s YouTube channel.
“The Burma Spring Benefit Film Festival was our answer to the crisis created by the coup. We hope it spreads wide awareness of the urgent needs in Burma, and it raised money to offer immediate help,” says organizer Alan Senauke, abbot of Berkeley Zen Center and founder of Clear View Project, an active humanitarian funder in Asia.
Burma Spring Benefit Film Festival website
Burma Spring Benefit Film Festival on Facebook
Burma Spring Benefit Film Festival on Instagram
Burma Spring Benefit Film Festival on Twitter
Burma Spring Benefit Film Festival on YouTube
Community Partners
Artists Beyond Boundaries, BuddhaFest, Buddhist Film Foundation, Burma Humanitarian Mission, Cinemata, Clear View Project, Code Refractory, Documentary Educational Resources, Earth Rights International, Engage Media, Ethical Traveler, Gandhi-King Global Network, Global Movement for Myanmar Democracy, Human Rights Center (UCB), Inquiring Mind, Insight LA, Insight Meditation Society, Institute for Asian Democracy, Institute for Cultural Activism, International Network of Engaged Buddhists (INEB), Kachin Alliance, Kino Lorber, Kirana Productions, Lion’s Roar, Never Again Coalition, One Myanmar Community, Oscilloscope, Refugee and Immigrant Transitions, Refugees International, Sakse, Shoot Cameras Not Guns, Spirit Rock Meditation Center, Tricycle Foundation, United Nations Association Film Festival, UC Berkeley Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies, U.S. Campaign for Burma, Zin Doc.
NOTE:
Buddhist Film Foundation will continue to accept donations on behalf of grassroots humanitarian organizations working in Myanmar in support of the non-violent democracy movement. Please click the Donate button in the sidebar under “YOUR SUPPORT MAKES A DIFFERENCE…” and select “Burma Spring Benefit” from the drop-menu under “Use this donation for….” Thank you for your support.
