Yangon Photo Festival pushes boundaries
The 6th Yangon Photo Festival Night took place on Saturday, 15 February, honouring the work of aspiring Myanmar photo journalists who are documenting history at a crucial time of change in their country
The top prize was awarded by patron of the festival and jury member, Daw Aung Suu Kyi, and the French Ambassador Thierry Mathou to Soe Zeya Tun for his photo essay “Myanmar in Flames”, depicting powerful images from the conflict between Buddhist and Muslim populations in the country. “Metta – the path to peace” was the theme of this year’s Yangon Photo Festival.
The best of photo journalism
The 6th annual Yangon Photo Festival organised by International Media Support (IMS) and the French Cultural Institute has developed from being one of the very few spaces in Myanmar for artistic expression and documentation to a high-profile event that features the best of photo journalism.
“The festival represents freedom of expression in its finest form. It is also a beautiful symbol of the way in which Myanmar society has embraced the newfound freedom,” said Jesper Højberg, Executive Director of IMS in his opening remarks at the festival where he occupied a seat on the jury alongside Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other distinguished jury members in the gardens of the French Cultural Institute.
Moving away from self-censorship
Christophe Loviny, Artistic Director of the Yangon Photo Festival and IMS photo journalism trainer described the new generation of photo journalists in Myanmar as one “daring to push the boundaries and take on sensitive topics that matter”.
Scores of aspiring amateur photographers had gone through photo journalism training workshops in the lead-up to the Yangon Photo Festival to enable them to produce high-quality photo stories for both traditional and digital media. For some students, portraying life through the lens of a camera was an opportunity to openly express new sides of themselves and importantly, show aspects of Myanmar life which had not previously been documented.
“We have seen tremendous dedication from those participating in this year’s festival which shows that Myanmar is not only beyond the regime of censorship – in many ways it is moving beyond self censorship,” Christophe Loviny said, after the awards were presented to the young Myanmar photographers for their outstanding work.
Educational prizes
16 photo essays of in all 67 entries were screened before the audience and the jury. The jury consisted of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Ambassador of France Mr. Thierry Mathou, Daw Su Su Lwin, Member of Parliament, U Htin Kyaw, IMS’ Executive Director Mr. Jesper Højberg, Mr. Alexandre de Lesseps, Chairman of Pandaw Investment, Mr. Ivan Pun, Founder of Pun + Projects, Mr. Hossein Farmani, Director of the Lucie Awards and Mr. Jean Loh, Owner of Beaugeste Gallery in Shanghai.
All eight awardees received prizes that aim to help them to improve and perfect their profession. The winners of the prizes were:
- 1st prize: Soe Zeya Tun for “Myanmar in flames”. Wins a four month residency at the National School of Photography in Arles.
- 2nd prize: Minzayar for “Food, not bombs”. Wins a Canon 6D 24-105mm with lens F4 camera.
- 3rd prize: Khun Li for “Life on the frontline”. Wins a one week training course at Rencontres d’Arles, important photography festival.
- 4th prize: Ko Myo for “Boat Cemetery”. Wins a Canon 70D 18-200mm camera.
- 5th prize: Chit Thet Su Hlaing for “A Good Karma”. Wins a Canon 70D 18-135mm camera.
- 6th Prize: Minzayar for “The Price of Jade”. Wins a Canon 700D 18-55mm camera.
- 7th prize: Colin for “They called me Baby”.
- 8th prize: Nweni for “Hair”.
The winning photo essays will be available on the IMS website shortly. The 6th edition of the Yangon Photo Festival takes place at IFB from January 8 to February 28, 2014.
