Guest contributor
Igor Blazevic
On the fifth anniversary of Myanmar’s military coup and the beginning of the Spring Revolution, Prague hosted the second edition of the Peacock Film Festival — an evening of documentary cinema dedicated to voices of resistance from inside the war-torn country.
Organized by Educational Initiatives Prague in cooperation with the Democratic Voice of Burma and hosted by Kino Atlas, the festival brought Czech audiences four recent, award-winning films created by Myanmar filmmakers and citizen journalists.
These documentaries first premiered at the DVB Peacock Film Festival in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in December 2025. They portray stories of resistance, youth, love, loss, and defiance under military rule.
The festival’s motto set the tone for the evening: “Truth cannot be silenced. These stories demand to be seen. This is not only a film screening — it is a celebration of courage and a call to witness.”
A full screening hall watched Love & Revolution (The Stories), Melody of Hope (Haki), The Star (Ugly Crow), and Fragment of Witness (Kha Baung) — four films produced only months ago under extremely difficult conditions inside Myanmar.
In my opening remarks, I explained why these particular films were chosen. These works were created primarily for people inside Myanmar — for communities living under the daily threat of violence who continue to resist the junta.
By telling stories of pain, endurance, solidarity, sacrifice, and love, such films help communities give meaning to hardship, strengthen resilience, and keep hope alive.
At the same time, he noted, the films are meant to travel beyond Myanmar’s borders. Screenings like the one in Prague aim to spotlight under-reported realities and amplify the voices of those resisting a brutal junta.
Love & Revolution captures the painful choices many people face every day — torn between duty to the revolution and responsibility to their families.
Melody of Hope shows how displaced communities organize improvised education for children in jungle camps under the constant threat of airstrikes, bringing not only learning but also music and moments of joy.
The Star pays tribute to young people who lost their lives in the struggle for freedom. The award-winning Fragment of Witness offers a philosophical audiovisual reflection on destruction, memory, and the search for meaning amid loss.
Following the screening, the program continued with a discussion titled “The Future Prospects of the Spring Revolution after the Junta’s Sham Elections.” The panel featured prominent civic and feminist activist Thinzar Shunlei Yi and Saw Pauk from the Karen National Union (KNU).
For Saw Pauk, the aim of the revolution is clear: to end dictatorship and establish a federal democratic union. Thinzar Shunlei Yi emphasized that the Spring Revolution is not only about removing the junta but about replacing the entire political system with one that is democratic, federal, feminist, and grounded in respect for human dignity.
Central to this vision, she said, is abolishing the 2008 Constitution, which entrenches military power and impunity, and building an inclusive system where women and marginalized communities are no longer excluded from decision-making.
Both speakers described the junta’s planned elections as “a sham and a scam” designed to legitimize continued military rule. Held under a constitution written and enforced by the military, the process cannot reflect the will of the people, they argued.
Saw Pauk added that ongoing violence against civilians, the continued imprisonment of political detainees, and the junta’s disregard for ASEAN’s Five-Point Consensus make any claim of legitimacy impossible.
The discussion also turned to the future. Thinzar Shunlei Yi stressed that the revolution’s success depends on persistence without surrender and on the international community ceasing to normalize relations with the junta.
“My hope for 2026 is that neighboring countries and the international community finally wake up, stand with the people of Myanmar, and stop empowering war criminals through recognition, investment, and silence,” said Thinzar Shunlei Yi.
The best-case scenario for 2026, she said, would be a clear shift away from complicity, increased political pressure, accountability, and genuine support for democratic forces. The worst-case scenario would be that “countries continue to normalize relations with the junta, choosing profit over human lives and enabling ongoing crimes against Myanmar’s people.”
Saw Pauk warned that the gravest risk lies in the junta gaining the upper hand militarily or in fractures emerging within the resistance. Hope, he said, rests on coordinated resistance efforts combined with strong international sanctions and effective measures to block weapons supplies to the regime.
“We, as the resistance to this criminal junta, must put more effort into engaging with global communities to explain what is happening in Myanmar and how people are suffering. The resistance must clearly show the world that we have a roadmap to end this tragedy created by the 2021 coup,” added Saw Pauk.
The evening at Kino Atlas was more than a film screening. It was an act of solidarity — a reminder that, five years after the coup, Myanmar’s struggle for freedom continues, and that stories told through courageous filmmaking remain a powerful form of resistance and witness.
Igor Blazevic is a lecturer at the Educational Initiatives Myanmar and Senior Advisor at the Prague Civil Society Centre
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