Homecoming Myanmar: A Midi Z Retrospective (Film Series)

A rising talent in international cinema, Myanmar-born and Taiwan-based Midi Z has developed a signature style for his intimate and authentic portraits of people struggling with displacement and poverty on the margins of Myanmar society. Hailing from an ethnic Chinese family in Lashio, a small town in the eastern Shan state, Z draws inspiration from the people he is familiar with in this remote region with a porous border next door to China, Laos and Thailand. Driven by social and economic hardship, they make ends meet drifting between worlds where smuggling and human and drug trafficking are rampant. Compassion and a documentary impulse guide Z’s camera as it quietly observes his characters’ actions and choices in a nonjudgmental manner. Mostly shot guerrilla-style in Myanmar, without official permission, the films also demonstrate formal rigor through meticulously crafted narrative structure and camerawork. This first U.S. survey of Z’s work includes all of the director’s fiction features plus a short.

Ice Poison
Midi Z. 2014. Taiwan/Myanmar. 95 min. DCP. English subtitled.
Cast: Wang Shin-Hong, Wu Ke-Xi

Xing-hong, a young farmer, can barely scrape by tending to the land with his father. Together, they visit one relative after another to borrow money to buy a moped so that Xing-hong can work driving passengers. One of his first customers is Sanmei, a woman who has returned home from China to Lashio, in northern Myanmar, to bury her grandfather. She hopes to earn enough money in order to bring her son in China to join her. In this part of Myanmar, few are untouched by the lucrative and menacing drug trade. When Sanmei and Xing-hong meet, a business deal is struck.

Post-screening Q&A with director Midi Z and actress Wu Ke-Xi. Followed by a reception.











When: Fri., Mar. 6, 2015 at 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Where: Asia Society and Museum
725 Park Ave.
212-288-6400
Price: $8 members, $10 students/seniors, $12 non-members
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A rising talent in international cinema, Myanmar-born and Taiwan-based Midi Z has developed a signature style for his intimate and authentic portraits of people struggling with displacement and poverty on the margins of Myanmar society. Hailing from an ethnic Chinese family in Lashio, a small town in the eastern Shan state, Z draws inspiration from the people he is familiar with in this remote region with a porous border next door to China, Laos and Thailand. Driven by social and economic hardship, they make ends meet drifting between worlds where smuggling and human and drug trafficking are rampant. Compassion and a documentary impulse guide Z’s camera as it quietly observes his characters’ actions and choices in a nonjudgmental manner. Mostly shot guerrilla-style in Myanmar, without official permission, the films also demonstrate formal rigor through meticulously crafted narrative structure and camerawork. This first U.S. survey of Z’s work includes all of the director’s fiction features plus a short.

Ice Poison
Midi Z. 2014. Taiwan/Myanmar. 95 min. DCP. English subtitled.
Cast: Wang Shin-Hong, Wu Ke-Xi

Xing-hong, a young farmer, can barely scrape by tending to the land with his father. Together, they visit one relative after another to borrow money to buy a moped so that Xing-hong can work driving passengers. One of his first customers is Sanmei, a woman who has returned home from China to Lashio, in northern Myanmar, to bury her grandfather. She hopes to earn enough money in order to bring her son in China to join her. In this part of Myanmar, few are untouched by the lucrative and menacing drug trade. When Sanmei and Xing-hong meet, a business deal is struck.

Post-screening Q&A with director Midi Z and actress Wu Ke-Xi. Followed by a reception.

Buy tickets/get more info now