Asian Cinema Fund

ACF Asian Cinema Fund

Asian Network of Documentary(AND) Fund

2017 Asian Network of Documentary (AND) Fund

LIST It Wasn′t an Accident

Category	BIFF Mecenat Fund
Project	It Wasn′t an Accident
Director	Soe Moe AUNG
Country	Myanmar
Director's Profile	Soe Moe AUNG is from Hmawbi, a town about 30 kilometers northwest of Myanmar’s former capital of Yangon. Having trained as an audio technician and radio announcer, he worked for a number of local stations and also wrote drama for radio. He studied film directing at Center of Research in Film and Television (CRAFT) in New Delhi, India before joining Yangon Film School (YFS) in 2012. Since then he is making documentary films and short films.

Synopsis: The character of the film, U Aung Win graduated from the Defense Services Academy in 1964. Immediately after graduation, he was posted in Kachin state as a second lieutenant for 4 years. That time was the peak of the fighting between Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and government forces. During those 4 years, he fought many battles. The documentary is based on one of the incidents. The incident took place when he was assigned as a platoon commander in Kachin state. One day, he was ordered to recon a village in Kachin State. When they arrived at the village, they found a group of armed people at a house beside the creek. At the time, Lt. Aung Win signaled his men for a surprise attack. When Lt. Aung Win and his group entered the house, they found a dying woman holding a crying infant. Lt. Aung Win fed the child with condensed milk and brought the child back with him. He reported to the battalion and sent the child to the hospital. The film is about finding this child.

Director's Note: I believe that this film can help in reconciliation and the peace process between ethnic people and government. I think I should also document what government soldiers did in those areas, which will be told by my father, a soldier who was in the same group as the former president U Thein Sein and other military generals. Now he is a member of parliament after winning 2015 general election, which was the first democratic election after 20 years of military regime.
Most importantly, as a documentary filmmaker, I just can’t let this story go without making a film about it. This documentary is mostly a personal story of my father, but there will be more to think about the history, the tension between the ethnic people and the government, and the impact of civil war by watching the journey of an old man who just wants to go there and say “sorry”.

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