Song of Souls
လိပ်ပြာလင်္ကာ
A deeply-felt lament for Myanmar’s Shan State
Synopsis
Shan State in Myanmar is home to a rich culture filled with ancient songs, traditional dances and beliefs. It is also a place where civil war has been raging for over sixty years. Shan folk singer Nan Mya Han was a star when she was young. Now she is older her metaphorical verses reflect the deep sense of loss that pervades a people battered by Myanmar’s ruinous politics. Interweaving her songs with compelling scenes of rituals around healing, death and birth, the film transcends the purely observational to become a multilayered, elliptical exploration of decay and impermanence that is both moving and totally mesmerizing.
Director Bio
Sai Naw Kham made his first foray into directing in 2014 whilst a beginner student at Yangon Film School with The Crocodile Creek, a short film which merged myth and memory to explore present-day environmental issues in Myanmar’s Yangon River. For his next film, 32 Souls (YFS, 2015), he travelled to his native Shan to portray one woman’s memories in this war-torn part of Myanmar. Following its international premiere at DOK Leipzig in 2016, this film went on to screen to acclaim at festivals including Busan in Korea and at Kathmandu’s Film South Asia Festival in Nepal. In 2020, he directed a short drama, The Forgotten Voices of the Mekong, which has screened at a number of festivals as part of an anthology film entitled ‘Mekong 2030’. Song of Souls is his first feature-length documentary.
Credits
Director/ Editor:
Sai Naw Kham
Producer:
Soe Arkar Htun
Cinematographer:
Soe Kyaw Htin Tun
Sound Recordist:
Zaw Lar
Mann Pyae Phyo Aung
Colorist:
Emily
Music:
Ramo
Kyaw Ko Ko
Sound Design:
Kyaw Ko Ko
Supported by:
Ziviler Fredensdienst Civil Peace Service
EBO
Festival Screenings
| June 2023 | Sheffield DocFest 2023, UK |
| December 2023 | Forum Film Dokumenter, Indonesia |
| May 2024 | Taiwan International Documentary Festival (TIDF), Taiwan |
