ABOVE AND BELOW THE GROUND
Emily Hong | Myanmar, Thailand, USA 2023 | 86 min. | Jinghpaw, Burmese with English subtitles
FRIDAY, 17.05. | 8 pm
Brunnenpassage (pay as you wish)
SUNDAY, 19.05. | 7 pm
De France, Saal 1 | TICKETS
Austrian premiere
In presence of Emily Hong
China’s mega-dam project Myitsone threatens indigenous communities in the highlands of Myanmar. In the first nationwide environmental movement, Kachin activists fight alongside punk rock pastors for ecological self-determination. We accompany Hkawni and her fellow activists in their political struggle to protect the sacred N’mai and Mali rivers. Through protest, prayer, and karaoke music videos, they come together to defend their homeland against the greed of multinational corporations.
ABOVE AND BELOW THE GROUND shows how music and collaborative activism can empower civil disobedience against authoritarian structures and addresses representational politics and intersectionality in environmental activism.
Director: Emily Hong (she/her)
Cinematography: Emily Hong (she/her)
Editing: Sophie Brunet (she/her), Aacharee Ungsriwong (she/her), Loulwa Khoury (she/her)
Sound: Ernst Karel (he/him)
Production: Ja Nang Tsen (she/her), Maggie Lemere (she/her
SCREENINGS AND AWARDS
BlackStar Film Festival
Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival
Women Make Waves International Film Festival
Hawai’i International Film Festival
Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival
Society for Visual Anthropology Film and Media Festival
Big Sky Documentary Film Festival
BIOGRAPHY
Emily Hong is a Korean American visual anthropologist and filmmaker. She is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Visual Studies at Haverford College, a co-founder of Ethnocine and Rhiza Collectives, and a Leadership Team member of the Asian American Documentary Network. Her 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.
