Industry: Take on Displaced Filmmakers – Masterclass by ZINDOC

Join us for a Masterclass by ZINDOC, hosted by Corinne van Egeraat and Petr Lom. Filmmakers from Myanmar will share their experiences and creative insights.

The masterclass will look at the Myanmar Bouquet as a case study – a collective film by twelve Burmese filmmakers based in Myanmar and the Netherlands.

Myanmar Bouquet
A single year. Twelve months. Twelve flowers blooming in Myanmar’s soil—each rooted in tradition, memory, and resistance. Alternated by a few Dutch flowers – in another culture, where the Burmese filmmakers are living away from home.

The Myanmar Bouquet is a collective film by twelve Burmese filmmakers based in Myanmar and the Netherlands. Through the symbolic lens of a flower for each month, the film blossoms into twelve short stories—each with an own cinematic style, varying from fiction, documentary and hybrid – to animation and stop-motion. The shorts are drawn from a personal experience, a cultural ritual, and represent the artists. 

The main creative motor is freedom of creative expression. There is one rule: the stories are not dialogue based, and non-spoken. We consider this as a cinematic expression of the current situation and quiet resilience. So: there is no talking in any of the films. 

From the vibrant Myanmar spring flowers to the somber chrysanthemums of November, echoing remembrance and loss, each chapter reveals a facet of Myanmar’s diverse cultural identity and emotional landscape. They are alternated by the Dutch tulip – a symbol of resilience and strength – to a Christmas pointsettia representing love and family – in December. Both also symbolize missing home.

Bound together in a lyrical structure, through poetry, the Myanmar Bouquet is a tribute to the beauty of seasonal rhythms and personal feelings. In a country where words are often weighed, flowers speak freely.