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The Road to Mandalay
July 14, 2021 | 7:00 pm
Weicholz Global Film Series presents
The Road to Mandalay
In Burmese with English subtitles
Myanmar/Thailand, Not Rated, Directed by Midi Z (2016), 108 min
Starring: Kai Ko (Guo), Ke-Xi Wu (Lianqing)
Two young Burmese immigrants flee their country’s civil war and desperate poverty to work illegally in Thailand. During their journey from Myanmar to Thailand, Guo falls in love with Lianqing. In Bangkok, they both find different ways to make enough money to realize their dreams. Guo gets a job at his cousin’s textile factory while Lianqing works 14-hour days washing dishes. Having found work, Lianqing focuses her efforts on acquiring an illegal Thai ID card. When she achieves this goal, the young couple’s relationship is in question.
ENGAGE WITH FILM CURATOR JOHN PFEIFER
1. Read his The Road to Mandalay lecture HERE.
2. Read about this year’s theme, Human Migration Stories from Around the World, in his essay HERE.
3. Q&A with Dr. Pfeifer: If you have questions or comments after viewing The Road to Mandalay, submit them HERE and Dr. Pfeifer will be happy to respond. His responses will be posted within the document.
Other films in the series include:
Quo Vadis, Aida?
Transit
Complicity
LOCATIONS:
Virtual stream: A private link to access the film will be emailed to registrants one hour prior to the event time. The link will be valid for 24 hours, expiring on July 15 at 7pm.
Run Time: 108 minutes
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Contact the Box Office at
theschaefercenter@appstate.edu
800-841-2787 or 828-262-4046.
TICKETS:
$5 per household
SHOWTIME:
Wednesday, July 14, 2021 | 7pm ET (virtual)
Q&A with DR. JOHN PFEIFER
If you have questions or comments after viewing THE ROAD TO MANDALAY, please submit them HERE and Dr. Pfeifer will be happy to respond. Select questions and answers will be posted directly to this event page.
REVIEWS
“A deceptively gentle account of the romance between two illegal immigrants in Thailand slowly builds into a moving portrait of the hardships they face and the impossible obstacles to their pursuit of happiness. Simplicity proves to be the greatest strength of a film that grows more involving as it unfolds and will consolidate Midi Z’s status as one of the rising stars of Asian cinema.” —Screen Daily
“Thanks to Midi Z’s brilliant command of visual metaphors and compassion for his subjects, [Mandalay] is elevated into an unnervingly immediate portrait of the human cost of displacement.” —CineVue
“Compassionate and honestly told, it is a real empathy machine of a movie. And, of course, you can’t watch it without thinking of the desperate plight of Burma’s Rohingya Muslims.” —The Guardian
“Taiwan-based Burmese filmmaker Midi Z produces his best work yet with The Road to Mandalay. … Midi Z has delivered a tightly edited and emotionally rewarding drama that places him in the top rank of Asian social realists.” —Variety
AWARDS
Best Director at the Asia-Pacific Film Festival (2018); Winner of the Press Award for Best Film at the Taipei Film Festival; Best Actor, Best Screenplay and Top 10 Films at the To Ten Chinese Film Festival (2017); The Fedeora Award for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival (2016); as well as 21 nominations for other major film awards.
