Documentary Arts Asia

The Leaves Keep Falling – Ed Kashi

director — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 06:53:22 +0000

This week: The Leaves Keep Falling by Ed Kashi and Talking Eyes Media https://vimeo.com/channels/developphoto/41164697

The Leaves Keep Falling by Ed Kashi and Talking Eyes Media: During the Vietnam War, the U.S. military sprayed some 12 million gallons of Agent Orange herbicide over Vietnam. This defoliant was used to immediately destroy crops, clear vegetation, and remove the dense forest that provided food and cover for Viet Cong forces. At least 4.5 million Vietnamese, and 2.5 million American veterans, may have been exposed to the herbicide. Although the spraying ended 40 years ago, the dioxin from Agent Orange is still wreaking havoc on three generations of victims.

The Leaves Keep Falling is an intimate portrait of two Vietnamese families whose children are severely disabled due to exposure to the dioxin in Agent Orange. They are among millions of people who continue to suffer the devastating health and environmental consequences of the herbicide. The film takes place outside the city of Da Nang, a “hotspot” where dioxin levels are more than 385 times acceptable levels. Witness the day-to-day struggles of caring for victims of a war that won’t seem to end.

Documentary Arts Asia and DEVELOP Photo are collaborating to bring the three day Chiang Mai Documentary Arts Festival to DEVELOP Tube. Every Wednesday, DEVELOP will feature a multimedia or video from the February 2012 Festival showcasing work from some of the finest documentary artists working in Asia, including Ami Vitale, Ed Kashi, Suthep Kritsanavarin, Paula Bronstein, Veejay Villafranca, Greg Constantine, Sitthixay Ditthavong and the Documentary Arts Asia Laiza Students.

cdaf.asia
doc-arts.asia

A Race Divided by Veejay Villafranca – Slideshow

director — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 05:59:35 +0000

This week: A Race Divided by Veejay Villafranca at https://vimeo.com/channels/developphoto/48088133

A Race Divided by Veejay Villafranca: Today there are at least 70,000 Chin migrants living in Mizoram, primarily because of human rights abuses carried out by the Burmese military after it came to power in 1962. They have crossed the border illegally, joining the hundreds of thousands of other ethnic Burmese trying to escape oppression in their native land. In Mizoram it can be hard for someone to tell who are the Mizos and who are the Chins, but if one were to take a closer look the ethnic rift would be obvious. Just around the main market area of the city’s capital, Aizwal, Mizos own the nifty shops selling imported goods and electronic gadgets and the Chins are those on the side streets selling whatever crop they have harvested for the day, usually scraping together just enough to buy their family’s next meal.

As the world’s focus shifts slightly towards Burma, thousands still try to make their way out. Even with the recent release of Nobel Peace laureate and national heroine Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, hundreds of political prisoners remain in Insein prison under unclear charges. In the hills, ethnic groups such as the Karen, Chin, Mon, Rohingya and many others still face hard unpaid labor and abuses from the military. The story of the race divided is a microcosm of what is faced across the whole country.

Their stories have been told time and time again in broadsheets and glossy magazines, and sadly their stories have also been replaced with new headlines time and time again. What I want to bring to the attention of the world is the issue of their personal space, or the lack of it due to greed and political backlash. Involuntary migration is one of the root causes of several human rights issues including slave trade and prostitution. The Chins travel hundreds of kilometers, by foot at times, to be able to obtain a space where they can live and raise their children, to rebuild families broken by distance. But what good does that bring if the land is not their own? And, moreover, a land where they are not recognized as refugees fleeing from oppression?

This project is part of an ongoing documentary project on the lives of Burmese migrants and how they cope with life outside their own land.

———————

In February 2012, Documentary Arts Asia hosted the first Chiang Mai Documentary Arts Festival. CDAF’12 is an annual festival bringing together documentary photographers and filmmakers in northern Thailand and presented nine photo exhibitions, three days of workshops and three nights of film screenings showcasing work from some of the finest documentary artists working in Asia. In collaboration with DEVELOP Photo the three day event is now accessible online.

cdaf.asia
doc-arts.asia

Documentary Arts Asia is a non-profit organization which works primarily in photography and film, but also audio and narrative writing, to tell the stories from Asia that need to be heard.

This video is part of the DEVELOP Tube Channel which can be found at vimeo.com/channels/developphoto. DEVELOP Tube is an educational resource which features interviews, profiles, lectures & films about photojournalism, fine art photography & documentary photography.

Artist Print Sale! October 11 – October 18th

director — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 09:34:18 +0000

Buy Two Matted Prints, get the Third Free!

Over 100 NEW matted prints to choose from.
6×4 = 200 | 9×6 = 400 | 12×8 = 600 | 15×10 = 800

Hkun Li | Matt Grace [Witness Burma] | Ryan Libre | Daylin J Paul | Inge Kathleen Hooker | CiSmith | Soumyadip Ghosh

As the year’s end is in sight, we are trying to find funding for our biggest projects: Our Annual Publication and the up and coming Chiang Mai Documentary Arts Festival. To do this, we are putting all the artist prints that we have been accumulating over the year on sale, 3 for 2.

Not enough to bring you in? come during one of our events during this week:

Oct 11 – Thursday at 7PM we will be showing a documentary on Ansel Adams

Oct 13 – Saturday at 1PM there is a 3 hour workshop by Alberto Cosi on how to light portraits / studio lighting. - 500 THB

Oct 13 – Saturday at 730PM is LIGHTPAINTING! colorful, fun, by donation, happy hour drinks, leave with some very creative images.

Oct 15 – Monday at 7PM we are showing the classic Seven Samurai. Claimed as Akira Kurosawa’s masterpiece, rottentomatos.com rates it at 100% and 96%

Oct 18 – Thursday at 7PM we are showing Living with the Tiger. A documentary on a group of Thailands orphans, living with AIDS.

Hkun Li: Life on the Front Lines Slideshow

director — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 03:15:59 +0000

This week: Life On The Front Line by Documentary Arts Asia Laiza Students

http://vimeo.com/channels/developphoto/48099128

cdaf.asia
doc-arts.asia

Documentary Arts Asia is a non-profit organization which works primarily in photography and film, but also audio and narrative writing, to tell the stories from Asia that need to be heard.

Life On The Front Line by Documentary Arts Asia Laiza Students: One of the major projects of DAA is our program of photography training and support in Kachin State, Northern Burma. Over the last four years more than 200 students have passed through photography workshops in Laiza, encouraging and enabling them to document the realities of life in the region. Despite an era of apparent reform initiated by the new civilian government in Burma, Kachin State has seen a marked increase in violence, community displacement and human rights abuses associated with a reignited civil conflict between the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the Burmese military. The images produced by these young Kachin give essential documentation of life in this isolated and under-reported area and have been used by organizations including ALTSEAN, Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) and the US Campaign for Burma (USCB) both as independent, first hand documentation of the ongoing situation and as tools for international advocacy for greater pressure on the Burmese government to end attacks against the Kachin people.

From the more than 200 students who have taken part in these free workshops nine have so far gone on to complete the entire course of basic, intermediate and advanced photography training, with six of these now also trained as teachers of the curriculum themselves. The first classes taught by graduates of the program have begun to take place and in this way the Kachin youth have been given the capability to continue this capacity building independently. DAA, supported by Internews, now provides small grants to allow students to complete extended documentary projects in the region and is currently looking for funding to make the space used for these workshops a permanent documentary arts center staffed and instructed by graduates of the program.

Ami Vitale – Full of Grace Slideshow

director — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 04:18:01 +0000

This week: Full of Grace by Ami Vitale – From the conflict in Kashmir, India, to the isolated Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, to the sands of Egypt, Ami Vitale’s award-winning photographs capture moments of beauty and strength in the spirit of people.

https://vimeo.com/channels/developphoto/48096688

Documentary Arts Asia is a non-profit organization which works primarily in photography and film, but also audio and narrative writing, to tell the stories from Asia that need to be heard.

http://amivitale.com/
http://cdaf.asia/
http://doc-arts.asia/

Ami Vitale’s journey as a photojournalist has taken her to more than 75 countries. She has witnessed civil unrest, poverty, destruction of life and unspeakable violence. But she has also experienced surreal beauty and the enduring power of the human spirit and she is committed to highlighting the surprising and subtle similarities between cultures.

Her photographs have been exhibited around the world in museums and galleries and published in international magazines including National Geographic, Adventure, Geo, Newsweek, Time and Smithsonian. Her work has garnered multiple awards from prestigious organizations including World Press Photos, the Lowell Thomas Award for Travel Journalism, Lucie awards, the Daniel Pearl Award for Outstanding Reporting, and the Magazine Photographer of the Year award, amongst many others.

October Exhibition – Ansel Adams: Born Free and Equal

director — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 10:22:38 +0000

Oct 5th – First Friday Exhibition Opening: Ansel Adams: Born Free and Equal

“The purpose of my work was to show how these people, suffering under a great injustice, and loss of property, businesses and professions, had overcome the sense of defeat and dispair [sic] by building for themselves a vital community in an arid (but magnificent) environment…” – Adams

During WWII, Japanese Americans were singled out for evacuation. More than 110,000 people of Japanese ancestry were forcibly removed from their homes, businesses, and possessions and placed into relocation camps. Manzanar War Relocation Center was one of ten camps, and the subject of Adams’s documentation.

“The internment of Japanese Americans struck a chord with Adams when Harry Oye, his parents’ longtime employee and an Issei in poor health, was summarily taken into custody by authorities and sent to a hospital halfway across the country in Missouri. Angered by this event, Adams leapt at an opportunity to photograph Japanese-American internees at the Manzanar War Relocation Center, which was run by his friend and fellow Sierra Club member Ralph Merritt.” – Library of Congress

Documentary Arts Asia is honored to be able to exhibit these images of Manzanar at our Chiang Mai Gallery. Please join us on Friday, October 5th for a night of conversation, reflection and images captured by a ledgend in photography.

Life in a Day

director — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 06:24:37 +0000

With such a beautiful turn out with such a great response for our screening of Life in a Day, I wanted to post an embedded player with the movie for those who which to re-watch or were unlucky enough to have to miss the screening. – details on the movie below

Enjoy your day,

CiSmith – DAA

The 24th July 2010…. 80,000 Lives…. 4,500 Hours of Footage… 2 Award winning Filmmakers….. Now one incredible motion picture event. What began life as a startling cinematic experiment becomes the must see movie experience of the Summer. Created entirely from footage uploaded by YouTube users, Life in a Day is a film first: exhilarating, moving and very, very funny… it is the story of our world. Told by us. — (C) National Geographic

Suthep Kritsanavarin Slideshow

director — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 14:37:49 +0000

http://vimeo.com/channels/developphoto/42266720

Documentary Arts Asia is a non-profit organization which works primarily in photography and film, but also audio and narrative writing, to tell the stories from Asia that need to be heard.http://cdaf.asia/
http://doc-arts.asia/

http://suthepphoto.com

The Rohingya population is estimated to be about 2 million people, 800,000 of which remain living in Myanmar’s western Arakan state. More than 200,000 have crossed to Bangladesh, with only one quarter of them recognized as refugees by UNHCR. Another million people are scattered across the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Australia.

Rohingya are labeled as aliens by their own government and marginalized and persecuted in Myanmar and other South and Southeast Asian countries where they take refuge. They face systematic oppression through forced labor, arbitrary arrest and land confiscation in Myanmar. Their predicament is exacerbated by their statelessness and the lack of concerted efforts by regional governments, political bodies, and international NGOs.

This project aims to improve the lives of Rohingya in South and Southeast Asian countries through regional and international advocacy and local campaigning. As a vital part of this process, local NGOs will work together as partners to solidify the Stateless Rohingya Network. The Stateless Rohingya Network plan to conduct a long-term multi-level advocacy campaign (community, regional and policy level) and use life-long material as the tool for this campaign.

Suthep Kritsanavarin has worked on an investigative report on Rohingya in 6 countries between December 2008 and February 2011. Suthep’s work has chronicled Rohingyas’ horrifying journeys from Burma and Bangladesh to Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia and even to Australia (Christmas Island) and their hardships in these countries with moving, passionate photos. At the same time, Suthep has succeeded in gathering comprehensive information that has heretofore eluded other journalists.

Suthep’s photos as well as the information gathered demonstrate the consequences of Rohingyas’ statelessness on individual Rohingya refugees, local communities, and governments. The photo documentation is now complete as the first phase of this process. Production of a photo documentary and material for an advocacy campaign will be the second and the third phases.

Suthep Kritsanavarin is one of Thailand’s leading photojournalists. His award-winning  work has been published internationally in the New York Times, International Herald Tribune, National Geographic Thailand, Geographical, Aera and The Japan Times. Suthep has covered environmental, social and humanitarian issues in Southeast Asia for nearly two decades.

Suthep’s work is based on his firm belief that a photojournalist must act as a  conscientious observer of society and culture who must contribute to social change on a local and global level. He achieves these goals by working on projects over long durations of time to build a deep understanding of the topic and to establish trust among the communities where he works.

Paula Bronstein slideshow

director — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 07:23:01 +0000

http://vimeo.com/channels/developphoto/48102447

Documentary Arts Asia is a non-profit organization which works primarily in photography and film, but also audio and narrative writing, to tell the stories from Asia that need to be heard.

http://cdaf.asia/

http://doc-arts.asia/

http://reportagebygettyimages.com/paula-bronstein/

Mongolia is one of the coldest places on the planet with temperatures dropping as low as -25C on an average winter day. The country recently suffered one of the most difficult winters in over 30 years. In Mongolian language it is called the Zud, a Mongolian term which is a multiple natural disaster consisting of a summer drought producing a small stockpiling of fodder, followed by very heavy winter snow and bitter cold.

Mongolia’s climate is unforgiving for those on the fringes of society – the poor and the homeless – and for those who rely on the land for their livelihood. This exhibition presents excerpts from three bodies of work, each of which look at hardships faced by different groups within Mongolian society and how those hardships are compounded by the Zud.

Film Fest Mania

director — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 08:08:18 +0000

Our friends at Yangon Film School and Wathann Film Fest have been kind enough to get us enough films to show for 2 days!

Best Friends Library
is Co-hosting with DAA to bring you two nights of films from YFS

Thursday Sept 13th Documentary showing: Sun Behind the Cluds; My Positive Life; Unreported Story; Burmese Butterfly

Monday Sept 17th Cinema showing: 3 films: Bamboo grove, Bungkus and Sweetie pie

Founded by Anglo-Burmese filmmaker Lindsey Merrison in 2005, the Yangon Film School (YFS) is a Berlin-based non-profit organisation that was created in order to support and encourage a burgeoning community of young media workers in Myanmar. Since its first pioneering residential workshop in 2005, the trainings, and the cinematic output, have gone from strength to strength.

YFS regularly brings together experienced filmmakers from around the world and young Burmese men and women, some of whom have little or no prior experience in media, for regular film trainings in Yangon, Myanmar on all aspects of filmmaking – from screenwriting to editing.