Join us for a screening of this 90-minute documentary followed by comments from Filmmaker Rex Bloomstein and Burmese Monks active in the Saffron Revolution.
5:30 p.m. – Reception / 6:00 p.m. – Screening / 7:30 p.m. - Commentary
This Prison Where I Live is a feature length documentary about two comedians. Maung Thura – better known as Zarganar – is Burma’s greatest living comic. Relentlessly victimized by the Burmese military junta, he is now in prison. Michael Mittermeier, in stark contrast, is free to practice his art of humor and provocation as one of Germany’s leading stand-up comedians.
In 2007, Zarganar was interviewed by the British documentary filmmaker, Rex Bloomstein, despite being banned from all forms of artistic activity and talking to foreign media. This footage remained unseen – until now. Two years later, hearing that Zarganar had been sentenced to 59 years in jail, Bloomstein teamed up with Michael Mittermeier and together they traveled secretly to Burma to make a film about this courageous man, who describes himself as the "loudspeaker" for the Burmese people, and to investigate humor under a dictatorship.
I hope that with the help of this movie, the world will get to know the name of this man.
– Michael Mittermeier
More About the Speakers
Hosted By
Walter Lohman
Director, Asian Studies Center
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