International Film Burman VJ Playing at HCCC

November 06, 2009

Herkimer County Community College will present the film Burma VJ at 6:30 p.m. on November 18 in the Sarkus-Busch Theater. This is one in a series of independent and international films being shown at HCCC.

A panel discussion on free speech and human rights will follow the showing of the film. The event is free and open to the public.

Burma VJ offers a unique insight into high-risk journalism and dissidence in a police state, while providing a thorough documentation of the historical and dramatic days of September 2007 when the Buddhist monks started marching. Anders Østergaard, the acclaimed filmmaker, goes beyond the occasional news clip and brings us close to the video journalists who deliver the footage from Burma. Though risking torture and life in jail, courageous young citizens of Burma live the essence of journalism as they insist on keeping up the flow of news from their closed country. Armed with small handycams the video journalists (VJs) stop at nothing to make their recordings from the streets of Rangoon. Their material is smuggled out of the country and broadcast back into Burma via satellite and offered as free usage for international media. The whole world has witnessed single event clips made by the VJs, but for the first time, their individual images have been carefully put together to tell a much bigger story.

Burma VJ: http://www.burmavjmovie.com