The Karenni’s Arts Creation (KAC), a creative resistance group from Myanmar’s Karenni State, held a screening of its second film The Execution at Alliance Française de Chiang Mai on March 28.
The “war-horror” film is set against the backdrop of the ongoing conflict and was filmed on the frontline amid fighting against the military, which staged a coup in 2021 that led to a nationwide uprising against a return to military rule in Myanmar.
“One night, we were filming so close to the frontline that heavy artillery was fired nearby. We couldn’t stop or postpone; we had to finish the scene that very night because we didn’t know if the military junta would seize that territory. We fought against time to get the shots done,” Solomon Soe, the director, told DVB.
All proceeds from this fundraising film screening will go to providing food and education for those displaced from their homes since 2021. The U.N. estimates that 139,900 civilians live temporarily at Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in Karenni State near the Myanmar-Thailand border.
“Success for us isn’t just about the money raised. It is about the massive show of support and solidarity we felt from the audience,” John Meia, the KAC chairperson and the film’s producer, told DVB.
KAC’s first film Lose and Hope was screened in 24 countries around the world. The Execution will continue to raise awareness about the war in Karenni State and funds for the humanitarian crisis.
