'Fruit Gathering' Is First Myanmar Film to Premiere at Karlovy Vary
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- Aung Phyoe debuts with 'Fruit Gathering,' premiering in the Crystal Globe competition at the Karlovy Vary festival as a co-production of Myanmar, Czech Republic, and France.
- The film becomes the first Myanmar production to premiere at Karlovy Vary, with Phyoe noting that Czech audiences may be encountering his country's cinema for the first time.
- Phyoe's script was selected for development in 2020 through Locarno's Open Doors co-production platform and follows two young women — San Kyi and Theint Theint Oo — working at a Yangon textile factory over a year and a half.
- The director says he consciously avoided exploring the 'social' impact of the relationship between the two women, aiming instead for an atmospheric, restrained portrait of what he calls 'conditional' affection.
- Phyoe shot the film in a 4:3 aspect ratio with cinematographer Thaiddhi, a framing choice he called a learning curve because the format complicates close-ups.
- Phyoe observes that queerness among women is 'much more accepted' in Myanmar than among men, pointing to the cultural closeness between women — holding hands, touching — visible throughout the film.
- Phyoe says making films in Myanmar is 'very difficult' with little institutional support, requiring political content to remain 'very subtle' while he tries to develop his own national cinematic language.
Why it matters: For Myanmar's emerging arthouse scene, 'Fruit Gathering' is a milestone as the country's first Karlovy Vary premiere, giving Czech audiences their first direct window into the nation's film language. Phyoe's interview lays bare the operating conditions: most productions lack institutional support and political content must stay 'very subtle,' making international festival breakthroughs all the rarer.
