Learn more about the making of the new documentary, Padauk: Myanmar Spring, with this online discussion about how it came to be. Panelists: Rares Michael Ghilezan, Jeanne Hallacy and Nant Ingyin Kyaw Soe. Moderated by Kenneth Wong (UC Berkeley)

 To attend this Zoom webinar, register here. 

Rares Michael Ghilezan is a lawyer, human rights activist and filmmaker, who has spent the past few years focused on exploring current issues facing Myanmar, including the Rohingya refugee crisis and the protests that have developed in the country since the 2021 military coup.

Jeanne Hallacy lived in Thailand for many years where she produced stories about human rights and social justice issues in Southeast Asia. Her other films include Mother, Daughter, Sister (2018), Sittwe (2017), This Kind of Love (2015), a profile of Burmese human rights activist Aung Myo Min; Into the Current: Burma’s Political Prisoners (2012); and Burma Diary (1997).

Nant Ingyin Kyaw Soe is featured in the documentary. Before the February 2021 coup in Myanmar, she lived in Yangon and worked for a telecom company. She is now living in Los Angeles. Her family, including her sister and twin brother, are still in Yangon, and she reports that so far they are safe.

Kenneth Wong is the Burmese language lecturer in the Department of South & Southeast Asian Studies at UC Berkeley. Born in Yangon, he has lived in the Bay Area since 1989. He is a writer and poet, and has translated many works of modern Burmese poetry into English. His own work and his translations can be accessed via his blog.

Sponsor(s): Center for Southeast Asian Studies, UC Berkeley Center for Southeast Asia Studies; UC Berkeley Human Rights Center