Looking for movies, shows, games, or books similar to The Road to Mandalay? Check out these recommendations on mosaic.
After decades of military rule, Burma has finally held its first presidential election. Many Burmese living abroad believe that peace and prosperity will soon soon follow, including Wang Xing-Hong who is living as an immigrant laborer in Taiwan and saves his money so he can return home. When Xing-hong arrives, he feels like a stranger in a foreign land but is determined to stay and make his life in Burma.
Wang Shin-hong is suffering from insomnia. A fortune teller advises the Mandalay businessman, whose car and bulging wallet suggest that business is going pretty well, to spend 14 days in a monastery, living life as a monk and eating an apple a day. Such a thing is possible in Burma today. Wang Shin-hong arrives at the rural monastery, has his head shaved and dons a red robe, in which he instantly becomes an authority. During the welcome procession, the village women, their poverty clear from their clothing and the huts in the background, put more than they have in his alms bowl. During his fleeting role as their advisor, Wang Shin-hong soon learns of the villagers’ attempts to survive and make a living as legal or illegal migrants in China, Thailand or Malaysia. He also finds out how the other monks try to generate profit and additional income.
Midi Z visits his oncle who works as a jade miner.
A fascinating documentary, shot in the mountainous north of Burma. No filmmaker is welcome there, because, against the background of a civil war, the jade miners enter the deserted mines illegally. With the aid of filming locals, however, Midi Z was able to compile this portrait. Getting rich quick turns out to be hard and risky work Jade has always been a valuable commodity in Asia. In the mountains in the north of Burma there are valuable deposits of jade. The area forms part of Kachin State, inhabited by many ethnic groups which found themselves embroiled in the Civil War in 2010 with the Burmese government. Jade mining was halted because of the conflict. Thousands of workers, however, went to the war zone in order to dig for illegal jade. It turned the region into a no-go area and the filmmaker Midi Z, who had so far made feature films in Burma, saw no opportunity to go and film there. It was far too dangerous. © iffr.com
After years toiling in bit-parts, an actress finally gets her break with a leading role in a spy thriller. The part is challenging, not least because it calls for explicit sex scenes, and the director is often hard on her. But both the industry and the press think the results are sensationally good.
Qiao Yan, born in a border town in southwest China, becomes a star actress after much effort and struggle. But despite her aura of glamour, she always feels hidden pressure. When she receives a threatening anonymous letter, her long-estranged sister suddenly comes to see her.
On the night of their high school graduation, three delinquents decide to exchange their darkest, most unspeakable secret.
Six filmmakers present six short films about the experiences of Chinese immigrants. Shot across Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Myanmar, the anthology depicts the crisis of identity that accompanies international migration.
The Song dynasty stone statues, dating back 800 years, stand in the wheat fields of Maozhuang Village. Eight-year-old Qing lives in this village with her mother, Hongmei, while her father works away from home all year round. On the way to school, she meets a ghost-like white child who has come to find his missing mother. With the child's arrival, Qing starts to sense whispering under the stone statues as her mother's secret past begins to reveal itself.
A collaborative project consisting four young generation of Taiwan directors, and four young foreign directors from Chile, France, Iran, and South Korea.Without being acquainted previously before meeting each other in Taipei, the eight of them shared their life experiences, and then co-wrote and co-directed four short films based on impressions and imaginations of a city.