Letter to San Zaw Htway
ZIN Documentaire | 26min
Postproduction script

0’25 On-screen typing: For this film we invited the loved ones of a Burmese artist and activist to write letters to him. This film is composed of their words.

0’44 Title: Letter to San Zaw Htway

0’54 VO 1: Dear San Zaw Htway... On 1 February 2021 at 5 a.m. while I was praying, my sister called me. She said our leader Aung San Suu Kyi had been arrested. And the General had staged a coup.

1’26 Army officer: Bring it here.

1’27 VO 1: It reminded me of the phone call I got in 1999 when you had been arrested. Now there is another military coup. How many kids will die? How many will be imprisoned this time? News of the coup spread fast on social media. We were ready to take to the streets.

2’10 VO 2: My biggest regret is telling you not to engage in politics. I still apologize to you now. As your sister, I was worried you would get hurt.

2’34 Crowd: Stop working for the dictators. We'll pay your salaries.

2’43 VO 3: The army lost the election by a landslide. They said the votes had been stolen and took over the country. Our futures are being destroyed.

2’59 Crowd: Just step on him if you like. That beggar.

Chants: Revolution will prevail. Revolt, Revolt. We fight for democracy. Our cause.

3’23 VO 4: We tweeted #whatshappeninginmyanmar so the world would know.

3’32 Crowd chants: People power. Give it back. Military power is not for killing people.

3’42 VO 5: Our symbol is the three finger salute. We took it from The Hunger Games. To trend online we use gimmicks. We wear cosplay costumes and come up with catchy slogans.

4’09 VO 6: Like many other teachers, I refuse to go to work. We will not let the army destroy our children's future.

4’24 VO 7: My brother, I will now be politically active. I went to the protests. I banged pots and pans. I prayed. The military trucks ran over protesters.

4’48 VO 8: At 8 p.m. when we bang pots and pans, the military patrol our neighborhood. They shoot and smash windows of homes where people bang pots and pans. We're under threat even inside our own homes.

5’16 VO 9: Peace means being able to sleep in your home without anxiety. I write to you, San Zaw Htway, longing for nights of peaceful sleep.

5’38 VO 10: Dear San Zaw Htway... Did I tell you how nervous I was when a friend was to introduce me to you? You had become an artist in prison. As a student leader, you were sentenced to 36 years, and served 13, partly in solitary. You started a hunger strike to help other prisoners. I expected to meet someone with visible marks of trauma. Trauma in his face in his eyes, and in his body. I expected to meet someone full of anger and resentment deeply scarred in body and soul. But instead, I met a smile. I met bright eyes, illuminated with passion. I met a fountain of kindness. I stood in surprise, asking myself: Where is the pain? Where is the trauma? Where is all the injustice done to you? Where is anger? Where is accusation, where is blame?

7’04 VO 11: I remember this story you told me. How in jail, you gathered inedible grains from your daily bowl of rice and threw them at birds that perched on the prison wall. At first, you threw the grains down the stairs. But you disliked having the little birds so far away. So you threw the grains closer and closer. By the end of the third week, the birds hopped right in front of your cell. Then you were transferred to another prison and had to part with your new friends. Every story you told me always had a lesson. After great loss, you must renew hope to find happiness.

8’01 VO 12: Dear San Zaw Htway… We were on a long journey from up in the mountains. You were so unusually curious. As if you were catching up on all the years you had missed in prison. And then it began to rain. The road turned into slick mud. Impossible to continue. The driver stopped the bus and we had to walk. We walked for several miles in the dark until we reached a gas station in the middle of nowhere. We slept on the concrete floor. I woke up in the middle of the night, shivering. And there I saw you, like a ghost, floating above the ground. I had never seen someone practice walking meditation before. Later, you explained to me why you kept turning around after only a few steps.

9’15 San Zaw Htway: My prison cell was seven steps wide. I could take seven steps, then turn. Your inner peace will reflect on your enemy who wants to hurt you and prevent you from returning the harm. He will think twice about harming you. And it will prevent you from returning the harm. With a peaceful mind, even when someone harms you you feel nothing can hurt you. If you don't meet harm with harm you will surprise your enemy, and he will back off.

10’17 VO 13: Dear San Zaw Htway... We offered the army food and water. And flowers. Many of the soldiers are so young, like children. Their families are kept in the barracks to stop them deserting. Some of them support us, but not too many.

10’58 Soldier on video: This is not a toy gun. There are real bullets in it. You know? If you go out after 8pm...I will shoot you in the head.

11’29 VO 14: I think of you as my own brother. You loved peace and democracy and justice. They have killed us by the thousands now. And arrested thousands more. You always said never to respond with anger. How can we do that now?

12’04 VO 15: I remember how eager you were to speak to people when we travelled together and you were our film assistant. You always wondered if injustice still marked people's lives.

12’17 Farmer: We had some things happen here. One was over there. The villagers had a dispute over a piece of farmland. This was still under the military regime. They grabbed that land. This doesn't happen anymore. But with the army you never know.

12’38 Farmer 2: We're not so brave, you know.

12’49 VO 16: You were sitting facing backwards in the train and you said: "I feel like I'm riding backwards into the future." Everyone believed this was a transitional period to democracy. It justified all your past suffering. But you had strong doubt about the military's intentions.

13’12 VO 17: Yesterday, five young activists were chased by the military. They fled to the roof of their building and were surrounded. Rather than surrendering, they jumped to their deaths. When will this cruelty end? You watched Myanmar transform, as international business poured in. You wondered how the poor would manage in this new world.

14’06 Builder: Once the bulldozer knocks down this building we won't have a place to stay.

- I got you this fancy apartment. But I can't help you once it's gone.

- With no place to sleep, maybe we should go back home to the village.

- Renting a room is not easy.

- Our salary barely covers food.

14’38 Old woman: Over there, get that one.

San Zaw Htway: You can make soup with them?

Old woman: Either soup, or eat them raw dipped in fish sauce.

SZH: Are they bitter?

Old woman: No, they're not.

SZH: Some are bitter, some are sweet.

Old woman: These are the sweet kind.

15’00 VO 18: I'm still surprised the years in jail didn't break you. That you were able to enjoy life, and help others.

15’11 San Zaw Htway: The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners has set up a counselling program. We want to counsel former political prisoners and their families. We use different techniques and want to learn from you. How the time you spent in prison affects your daily life now. If you are interested, there are many exercises you can do.

Former prisoner: To cure me?

SZH: To cure you. With counselling.

Former prisoner: Counselling to cure me.

SZH: You spent a long time in prison, you suffered a lot. You need to find a healthy way to deal with your trauma.

16’08 VO 19: You were always restless and on the move. Was it because the world had been denied you for so long that you wanted to discover it before you could belong in it?

16’47 VO 20: You loved children. You would have been a great father. One day you picked up a baby and then you got very quiet.

17’00 San Zaw Htway: Sometimes I get sad. I don’t know why. I often can't explain what is going on with me.

17’35 San Zaw Htway’s mother: I'm always worried. Could you be arrested again? That thought is always in my mind. I'm always worried, wherever you go. My child. Now that my child is back, will they grab him from my chest again? I worry about that all the time.

18’10 VO 21: I have a recycled work of art you made for me as a prop for a film of mine. When I asked you to make something representing family you made a figure of three birds. Whenever I look at this work of art, I think of you.

18’30 SZH: In jail, when they told me not to write poetry, I wrote many poems. They told me not to sing. I sang many songs. I wasn't allowed to paint either. But there was a lot of plastic garbage in the prison. I collected it from what people brought in. I made art out of this colorful trash. This was my way of painting. And of protesting against their rules. Because I was so focused on the colors, my words didn't come out. My words became these colors.

19’19 VO 22: You called us and told us you'd won a prestigious art award in London: The Artraker Award, a prize for artists in countries in conflict. You were starting to get the international recognition you deserved.

19’40 VO 23: Meditation and art kept you sane in prison. You refused to be poisoned by hate. It gave you resilience and strength.

19’57 SZH to children: Cut like this. Hold this side. And cut this way and the other way. That's it. Glue it like that. Yes, glue it like that. Use the tip. This piece is still loose. Put glue on it like this.

20’37 SZH: I encourage them to express their feelings without fear. That's what I teach them in making art. So they get used to thinking on their own. To being their own independent selves.

20’58 VO 24: We were so worried when you got arrested again for a work of art you had placed in front of your home. You made an installation cursing the government and soldiers who cause harm.

21’14 SZH on phone: The police released me around midnight. They couldn't reach headquarters. I was forced to sign a statement. It was a blank sheet of paper without any charges.

21’32 SZH: They thought I was doing black magic. My curse really scared them. It really freaked them out. They came to check and saw the clay pot I had made with a piece of cloth coming out of the pot and a candle lit inside it. They thought I was doing black magic. I explained to them that I'm not a witch, that this is my activist art. Anyone else would find this hilarious, but to them it's scary. They believe in black magic. They also use it against Aung San Suu Kyi. New Year prayer: If you fall, rise up and fly. For truth.

22’49 VO 25: Why did you die so young? They say it's from your long years in prison. Many prisoners got hepatitis and cancer from the poor sanitary conditions.

24’03 Crowds chanting: No more dictatorship.

24’15 VO 26: I often think of you these days. You tried to survive in prison in every possible way. This is what everyone in Myanmar must do now. As I write to you, there are soldiers outside my door. They've been coming here every night this past week. I am so grateful to you for your guidance. When I'm down, you help me. I will never forget you.