Above and Below the Ground

Above & Below the Ground (2023)

In Myanmar’s first and only country-wide environmental movement, Indigenous punk rock pastors and women activists protect a sacred river from a Chinese-built megadam through protest, prayer, and Karaoke music videos.

• Film Duration: 86 minutes
• Country: Myanmar
• Film Language: Jinghpaw, Burmese
• Subtitle Language: English

Director 

Emily Hong

EMILY HONG (DIRECTOR AND DP) is a Seoul-born visual anthropologist and filmmaker based in Philadelphia and Bangkok. Informed by her experiences as a multiracial immigrant with ancestors on both sides of the colonial equation, her work seeks to challenge the colonial legacies of anthropology and documentary filmmaking by creating space to honor non-Western ways of knowing and being. Emily’s short films GET BY (2014), NOBEL NOK DAH (2015), and FOR MY ART (2016), have explored solidarity and labor, womanhood and identity in the refugee experience, and the gendered spectatorship of performance art, respectively. Her current feature project ABOVE AND BELOW THE GROUND features Indigenous women and punk rock pastors leading an environmental movement in Myanmar. Emily is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Visual Studies at Haverford College, a co-founder of Ethnocine and Rhiza Collectives, and a Steering Committee member of the Asian American Documentary Network. Her work builds on fifteen years of facilitation, organizing and campaigning experience with grassroots movements in Asia and the US with a focus on Indigenous rights, environmental and economic justice. 

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Freedom Talk: Women & Youth Sowing the Seeds of Change

The voices of women and young people can sometimes be sidelined in the fight against climate change. However, women and young people are often the most impacted by the climate crisis and have unique roles to play in environmental advocacy. At this Freedom Talk, we will discuss the unique perspective and advantage that women and youth bring to environmental activism.

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This event is part of FreedomFilmFest 2024, which is organised by Freedom Film Network (Pertubuhan Perfileman Sosial Malaysia), a non-profit society dedicated to the development and promotion of social justice and human rights films.

For more information, head over to our website freedomfilm.my