Burma VJ To Open In United States

by Sandy Mandelberger, North American Editor

BURMA VJ, a Danish documentary that won the Joris Ivens Competition at the International Documentary Film Festival of Amsterdam (IDFA) in November, will open theatrically at New York’s most prestigious arthouse, the Film Forum. The film, which had its North American debut this past weekend at the Sundance Film Festival, has also been acquired by cable giant Home Box Office for a 2010 television premiere.

The film, the definite buzz title of the IDFA program, looks at last year’s uprising against the military dictatorship in Myanmar, told through secret home video footage. The film offers an unprecedented look at the movement and it’s organizers, which includes Buddhist Monks who vocally demonstrated for changes in the repressive Burmese government. The mass demonstrations in Rangoon drew international attention through secret video footage of a band of journalists known as the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) that was smuggled out of the country and beamed around the world. The film, which also won the Movies That Matter Prize at IDFA, recently was an award winner at a documentary film festival in its native Denmark.