AsiaLENS: "Burma VJ" (Anders Østergaard, 2008, 84 min.)

• Event Date: Tuesday, December 7, 2010
• Time: 7:00 pm (CST)
• Location: Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana, IL
• Cost: Free Admission

• Film

Going beyond the occasional news clip from Burma, the acclaimed filmmaker, Anders Østergaard, brings us close to the video journalists who deliver the footage. Though risking torture and life in jail, courageous young citizens of Burma live the essence of journalism as they insist on keeping up the flow of news from their closed country. Armed with small handycams the Burma VJs stop at nothing to make their reportages from the streets of Rangoon. Their material is smuggled out of the country and broadcast back into Burma via satellite and offered as free usage for international media. The whole world has witnessed single event clips made by the VJs, but for the very first time, their individual images have been carefully put together and at once, they tell a much bigger story. The film offers a unique insight into high-risk journalism and dissidence in a police state, while at the same time providing a thorough documentation of the historical and dramatic days of September 2007, when the Buddhist monks started marching.

AsiaLENS is organized by the Asian Educational Media Service in collaboration with the Spurlock Museum to present recent documentary films on issues in contemporary life in Asia. Guest scholars and members of the campus and local communities will introduce the films and lead post-screening audience discussions.

For further information, contact AEMS at 333-9597 or visit the AEMS website at AEMS(external link).