In 2017, the Yangon Film School launched a programme of training, mentorships and outreach to increase understanding of gender-based violence amongst public and policy-making audiences. Indian gender-activist Paromita Vohra and award-winning animator Debjani Mukherjee travelled to Yangon where they joined with YFS to train a group of young Burmese students in innovative documentary and animation film techniques. Paromita guided the students as they independently researched, identified and interviewed protagonists on location in Kachin, Shan, Kayin and Kayah States in Myanmar. On their return to Yangon the students continued to work with Paromita to transcribe, analyse and edit together key sentences to create four short audio narratives. The resulting ‘Stand Up for Women! Stand Up for Peace!’ docu-animation film series challenges the perception of violence against women as a private domestic issue, and situates it instead in the broader social landscape – exploring the intersections and entanglement between gender-based violence on one hand, and conflict, human rights, and precarity on the other. The course participants and subsequent film-makers were encouraged to think about how arts and humanities methodologies such as docu-animation can produce visually powerful narratives in emotionally resonant ways.
