ACF Asian Cinema Fund

Asian Network of Documentary(AND) Fund

2015 Asian Network of Documentary (AND) Fund

LIST In Exile (aka. Greener Pastures – The Story of Three Families)
Category Busan Bank Fund
Project In Exile (aka. Greener Pastures – The Story of Three Families)
Director Tin Win NAING
Country Myanmar, Germany
Director's Profile Tin Win Naing was one of the first students to be chosen for the pioneering professional film school in Myanmar, Yangon Film School (YFS). He has worked on many award-winning films such as Nargis: When Time Stopped Breathing and The Monk - which have been broadcasted on German and French television, and screened at international film festivals such as IDFA, Berlinale, Rotterdam Film Festival and Nyon Film Festival. In 2007 he won an award for his camerawork on the film Into the Ring.
Synopsis
Tin Win Naing, a Myanmar Video Journalists, had to flee his country. He crossed the border illegally, entering an area in Thailand that Myanmar people ironically call “the free land”. Tin Win Naing is astonished to see how many of his fellow countrymen have escaped the disastrous economic situation in Myanmar only to find themselves trapped on the other side of the border by working under conditions of modern slavery.
Their numbers range from 2 to 3 million.

Greener Pastures ? The Story of Three Families follows three Myanmar migrant workers in their struggle for survival. The award winning filmmaker - a refugee among refugees - observes his compatriots in close and empathetic details. It becomes a deeply felt journey into the hearts and minds of a people who have been tormented by Myanmar′s former military regime for decades and who are now struggling in a new foreign home; however, they have emerged as fighters against despair.
Director's Note
When I fled to Thailand, I did not know if I would ever be able to see my family again. I had a specific view on my country and was set in my ways. Never would I have thought that being a refugee would change that, but it did.

The protagonists in Greener Pastures ? The Story of Three Families allow me to experience the condition of my country and my kinsman from a different angle. They are regular people. But in the face of our homeland’s devastating conditions, they have become incredible fighters ? heroes in their own micro-cosmos.

I want to let the audience discover our protagonists’ strength and mind-set from a local perspective. It is important for me to convey what I realized myself ? that sometimes, home is and remains where the heart is, and the grass is not always as green as we think it is on the other side.
Festivals
2016 Busan International Film Festvial - Wide Angle_Documentary Showcase
2017 Taoyuan Film Festival
Still Cut
LIST