Set against one of the world's deadliest yet least-covered conflicts,
Thabyay: Creative Resistance in Myanmar examines how creativity becomes both a tool and a lifeline under a brutal military junta: how songs, poems, paintings, and grassroots cultural events can be as potent as any weapon. The film also traces the moral and emotional journey of non-violent leaders forced to decide whether to endorse armed struggle, while still holding onto a vision of a peaceful, inclusive Myanmar.
The film profiles four figures working at the intersection of art, activism, and armed struggle: Susanna Hla Hla Soe, painter and government-in-exile minister, whose canvases document the impact of war on women and children; Maung Saungkha, poet and free-speech advocate turned commander of the first Bamar ethnic army; Phoe San, musician and composer who uses sound to sustain revolutionary spirit and support trauma recovery; and Thet Swe Win, human rights activist whose "artivist" gatherings mobilize the collective power of creative expression against repression.
Through intimate portraits and on-the-ground footage, Thabyay captures a movement that refuses to surrender its humanity, asking what is lost, and what might be gained, when non-violent leaders are pushed toward armed struggle in a war the world has largely chosen to ignore.
This is the latest work by Jeanne Hallacy, a documentary filmmaker with over two decades of engagement with social and human rights issues in Southeast Asia, particularly Burma and Thailand. Her filmography charts a sustained commitment to the region's most urgent stories, from
Burma Diary (1997) and
Mercy (Meddah) (2002) through
This Kind of Love (2015),
Sittwe (2017),
Mother, Daughter, Sister (2018), and
Padauk: Myanmar Spring (2021).
SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS
HUMAN Int'l Documentary Festival, Norway, 2026
City College of San Francisco, USA, 2026
University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2026
FRAME, Thailand, 2025
Reconference: CREA's Global Conference, Nepal, 2025
University of Bielefeld, Germany, 2025
Asia Pacific Social Forum, Thailand, 2025
National Chengchi University, Taiwan, 2025
George Washington University, Washington, DC, 2025