Kenneth Wong, a Burmese language instructor at UC Berkeley, has spent a lifetime studying the history of Burmese films, and is one of the organizers of the Burma Spring Benefit Film Festival. He grew up in Yangon half a century ago and remembers the formulaic, romantic comedies that the Burmese movie industry churned out each year, escapist films that rarely touched on relevant social issues. There were also Bollywood movies and American blockbusters that attracted massively audiences. “I have a feeling that there were a lot of people who, if they had been given the chance to make films, they could have made really great films that were on par with foreign films, but they just weren't able to,” he remarks sadly.

Everything changed with the democratic transition of the last decade, when films no longer had to pass the scrutiny of the all-powerful Censor Board. It was like a finger removed from the dike, an artistic explosion where artists could now express themselves without fear of punishment.

While independent films started to take off in that more open artistic climate, Kenneth was especially impressed by the growth of locally made documentaries, which began to take on issues of social justice, ethnic minority rights, and LGBTQ issues. “Those are the sort of things that previously you couldn't even talk about openly in teashops,” he notes.

And what about the stars who contributed their talents to that period of artistic blooming? While a handful have openly sided with the military and others have only attended a few rallies briefly in order to take selfies that promote their brands, others have made incredible sacrifices. Examples include Hta Hta Thet, a former beauty queen who has since joined a People’s Defense Force team, or Paing Takhon, a movie star and model who was recently sentenced to three years for his activism.