Films linked to junta chief’s daughter expected to win Myanmar’s Academy Awards

The 2023 Myanmar Motion Picture Academy Awards ceremony will be held on the first Saturday in February, with junta chief Sen.-Gen. Min Aung Hlaing set to attend and the military council expected to deploy massive security details. Films produced by Min Aung Hlaing’s daughter—as well as a pro-military propaganda film called “A Red Blanket” that portrays the members of Kachin Independence Army (KIA) ethnic armed organisation as cruel and underhanded—dominate the list of nominees. Promotional poster of “A Red Blanket” The military council has publicly announced that the expenses for the gold stars used in the trophy statuettes and gold brooches given to the winners would be taken out of the public budget. The film awards ceremony’s chief sponsor is the broadcasting entity Forever Group, which has longstanding, close ties to the junta generals. The military council have virtually banned video recording in Naypyitaw near the site of the ceremony between February 1 and February 4, incentivising more celebrities and spectators to attend in person. This film awards ceremony will be the second of its kind held since the military seized power in 2021. The 2019-2022 Academy Awards ceremony was held at an open-air theatre near Naypyitaw City Hall. However, perhaps due to the anti-junta forces’ increased use of drones to attack military targets in recent months, the military council moved the venue to the Myanmar International Convention Centre 1 (MICC-1) indoor event hall this year. Gen. Soe Win seen at the Academy Awards ceremony in May 2023 (SAC) The military council has set a maximum number of attendees for the ceremony, and even invited guests will have to submit biographical details for review. A successful Academy Awards ceremony would further two of the junta generals’ chief aims: presenting the appearance of security and peace under military rule to Myanmar civilians and the world, and serving the business interests of junta chief Min Aung Hlaing’s family. A third of the twelve films nominated this year were produced by 7th Sense, the film production company owned by Min Aung Hlaing’s daughter Khin Thiri Thet Mon. The company grew rapidly after the general’s daughter founded it in 2017, due in large part to her father’s political influence. In one of the first rounds of sanctions imposed by the United States (US) Treasury targeting Myanmar entities in response to the 2021 coup, the designation included six businesses owned by family members of Min Aung Hlaing, with Khin Thiri Thet Mon’s 7th Sense listed by name. After the announcement, according to several film industry sources who left Myanmar, films produced by 7th Sense started listing different entities as their production companies, such as Hey Play, M Entertainment Channel, SM Winner, W Entertainment, and V7 Entertainment. Announcement about the My Girl/ A Chane Lun Moe movie in the state-controlled newspaper in 2019 The four nominees on the list for February’s ceremony seem to have had their production histories rewritten in just the same way, listing another production company after being produced by 7th Sense. Although they listed 7th Sense as the production company of the film “The Fourth Vein” while it was being shot in 2019, the listed production entity had changed to an entity with the Burmese name Sone Mhat at the time of its release. 7th Sense board member Wai Min Maung—also known as Shwe Mann—had been the film’s executive producer. Similarly, “Rain Over Time” was filmed under the working title of “My Girl” by 7th Sense in 2019, but the production entity’s name had changed to SM Winner Entertainment when it was released in cinemas. Having first filed its registration on March 10, 2023 with the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration—Myanmar’s junta-controlled business registration agency—SM Winner Entertainment effectively came into existence just six months before the movie hit cinemas. The film “Lucky” features the actor Paing Takhon, who was previously detained by the military for protesting against the coup. It was also made with personal or business associates of Min Aung Hlaing’s daughter. The director, Win Lwin Htet, and scriptwriter Moe Ni Lwin, are known to have worked with the 7th Sense Production Company and the master of photography for the movie was also a staff member of Hey Play, a subsidiary of Seventh Sense, according to People’s Spring.

Films linked to junta chief’s daughter expected to win Myanmar’s Academy Awards

One of the few nominated films without an evident connection to Min Aung Hlaing’s daughter’s sanctioned production company is “A Red Blanket”—a propaganda film glorifying the army and vilifying the KIA

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