After decades of military rule, Burma holds its first presidential election. Many Burmese living abroad believe that peace and prosperity will 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 still remains determined to make his life in Burma.

Midi Z’s directorial debut feature, RETURN TO BURMA was nominated for major awards at the Rotterdam, Hong Kong, Busan, and Taipei Film Festivals. Presenting a “sobering, at times bittersweet image of his home country” (Asian Movie Pulse), the film became the foundation of what critics later called his “Homecoming Trilogy” (also including POOR FOLK and ICE POISON), a body of work that significantly shaped international perceptions of contemporary Myanmar cinema.

“Shot under the censors’ radar, the digital pic presents a melancholy though not hopeless look at a country whose experiment with elections has done little for a populace seeing few opportunities at home.” –Variety

DIRECTED BY MIDI Z
TAIWAN | 2011 | BURMESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES