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Thabyay
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Secondary Title:
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: Creative Resistance in Myanmar
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Filmmaker Name:
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Jeanne Hallacy
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Film Length:
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62 min
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Film Year:
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2025
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Duration:
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46-75 min
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Decade:
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2020s
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Language:
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in English & Burmese
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Subtitle Language:
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with English subtitles
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Region:
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Asia
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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
Thabyay
Written & Directed by
Jeanne Hallacy
Produced by
Edited by
Featuring
Phoe San
Susanna Hla Hla Soe
Maung Saungkha
Thet Swe Win
Wai
Shwe Zin Moe
Nyi Nyi
Aung Myo Kyaw
Aung Khant
Rough Cut Editor
Peter Potts / AsiaWorks Television
Re-recording Mixer
Akritchalerm Kalayanamitr
Camera
Additional Camera
Sai Kyaw Khaing
Win Htin
Rares Ghilezan
Tagu Films
Story Consultant
Ellen Bruno
Field Producer & Translator
Car Say
Additional Translation
Sound Effects Editor
Dhanarat Dhitirojana
Original Music
Special Thanks
Thomas C. Hallacy
Michele Bohana
Minka Nijhuis
Bo Lee
Rosemary Hallacy
Mary Anne Hallacy
Joy House / Foundation for Education and Development [FED]
Iyengar Yoga Studio, Bangkok
Wish As One
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