SCREENING, SCREENING + Q&A
A Thousand Fires + Side by Side
Saturday, Mar 19, 2022 at 2:30 pm
Location: Bartos Screening Room
Part of First Look 2022
With director Saeed Taji Farouky in person
Dir. Saeed Taji Farouky. France/Switzerland/Netherlands/Palestine/Myanmar. 2021, 90 mins. In Burmese with English subtitles. DCP. One of the most ravishing documentaries of recent years, Farouky’s film follows the tireless and devout Thein Shwe and Htwe Twin as they eke out a life drilling for oil in the ancient fields of Magway, Myanmar, while making regular trips to temple and fortune teller, and deciding whether to send their youngest son away to join a soccer club. A film that traces ineluctable cycles of life, death, and rebirth on multiple levels—natural, social, and, above all, spiritual and economic—A Thousand Fires accomplishes a rare feat, successfully balancing the universal and the particular without compromising the dignity of those with whom it was made. North American premiere
Preceded by
Side by Side
Dir. Polen Ly. Cambodia. 2021, 21 mins. In Tampuan and Khmer with English subtitles. Through daily routines in a rural village, an indigenous elderly couple recalls their strange marriage to their granddaughter, and sometimes to each other, in the changing rhythm of nature around them.
Tickets: $15 / $11 senior and students / $9 youth (ages 3–17) / free for MoMI members ($11 Classic members). Order online. Please pick up tickets at the admission desk upon arrival. All seating is general admission. Review safety protocols before your visit.