Mar 15, 2010

News

NED Grantee Subject of Oscar-Nominated Documentary

We sat up late with fingers crossed, but in the end Burma VJ lost out to The Cove for Best Documentary Oscar.

In 2007, foreign news crews were banned from entering Burma and the internet was shut down when over 100,000 people, including thousands of Buddhist monks, took to the streets to protest the repressive regime that has held them hostage for over 40 years

Burma VJ, Anders Østergaard’s documentary featuring the independent media organization that told the story at great personal risk, was nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary of 2009. Though in the end Burma VJ did not get the nod, its rare inside look at the uprising through the cameras of the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) will remain one of the most inspiring films of 2009.

The National Endowment for Democracy has been a proud supporter of the Democratic Voice of Burma since its inception in 1992. Over the past two decades, it has grown from a small, student activist-run opposition shortwave radio station into an independent, professional multi-media organization that produces a twice-daily shortwave radio program, broadcasts news and information via its 24/7 satellite TV station, and posts news and information on its website.

To learn more about the NED’s support for DVB, watch a 10 minute interview by Journal of Democracy editor Larry Diamond with DVB deputy director, Khin Maung Win. This short video is the first installment in NED’s new Democracy Stories series, and includes footage from Burma VJ. The documentary and the work of DVB were also highlighted in recent articles in the Christian Science Monitor and on  FP.com, the Web site of Foreign Policy magazine.

More information on the Endowment’s work in Burma available here. 

Burma VJ in Christian Science Monitor
Documentary film 'Burma VJ' is about Democratic Voice of Burma and how it relayed images from the 2007 protests to the world. Aye Chan, the news organization's chief, speaks about his motives, the risks, and the Oscar-nominated movie…. :: VISIT

Burma VJ on FP.com
"I feel I want to fight for democracy," Joshua informs us in a voice-over near the start of the film. "But I think we had better make a longer plan. We cannot go out into the streets again and get shot because we have no more people to die." The protesters of 1988, he muses, "were so brave, but sometimes I feel like they died for nothing." He wants, he says, to remind the world that "Burma is still here." :: VISIT