* This article has been edited and reconstructed based on the report submitted to the Kawamura Foundation for the Promotion of Culture and Arts.
Docu Athan Theatre––Project with Myanmar creators to Raising/Giving “Athan (Voice)”
[Application project]
Docu Athan Theatre––Project with Myanmar creators to Raising/Giving “Athan (Voice)”
[Applicant]
Docu Athan
[Subsidy] 1.5 million yen
[Overview]
Docu Athan is an organization/project launched in 2021 to build networks through artistic and cultural practices, with a main focus on moving-image media, in collaboration with creators in Myanmar who have faced a wide range of challenges since the military coup that year. The organization/project was initiated in February 2023, with journalist Yuki Kitazumi and filmmaker Toru Kubota as leads, both of whom had experienced detention in Myanmar. ‘Athan’ means “voice” or “opinion” in Burmese. The core of its activities is the translation, introduction, and sharing of video works created by Myanmar-based creators on the project’s website, to support these creators’ artistic and cultural practices by presenting those works. While video serves as its primary medium, the project aims to “raise and get the voice heard” comprehensively through various artistic practices.
“Docu Athan Theatre––Project with Myanmar creators to Raising/Giving ‘Athan (Voice)’” was launched to consecutively organize online activities, which were developed through such initiatives that Docu Athan worked on previously, and, building on that foundation, to present screening-based events aimed at establishing new networks in Thailand and Japan. The project’s overall management and operation is led by its founders, Kitazumi and Kubota, as well as curator Haruka Iharada and around ten additional collaborators.
[Held / Implemented / Announced]
●Event Schedules
◯Docu Athan Theatre #Okinawa | June 7, 8, 9, 2024
<Venue> Eain (Itoman, Okinawa), Okinawa University Mini Theater (Naha, Okinawa), Asahi Fukuhara Office (Naha, Okinawa)
<Number of participants> 50 people
◯Docu Athan Theatre #Kenduri Seni Patani | August 10 – December 10 (The region experienced flooding in late November, and the art festival was suspended in early December.)
<Venue> Patani Artspace (Pattani Province, Thailand)
<Number of participants> approx. 35 people
◯Community Space Making in Thailand | September - ongoing
<Venue> Docu Athan Square (Mae Sot, Tak Province, Thailand)
◯Participation in “African and Asian Societies and Their Challenges through Film, Vol. 1: The Visions of Myanmar Filmmakers Fighting with Cameras Instead of Guns”
<Venue> Fab Café (Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture)
<Number of participants> 20 people
◯Docu Athan Theatre #TOKYO | February 8, 9, 2025
<Venue> Minato Commons (Minato-ku, Tokyo)
<Number of participants> 73 people
[Outcome]
Docu Athan Theatre #Okinawa Screenings were organized at three venues in Okinawa Prefecture. On day 1, the event took place at Eain, a community space in Itoman City. This place, named ‘Eain,’ which means “home” in Burmese, serves as a gathering space for young Myanmar technical intern trainees working in Itoman, and is operated by city council member Satoru Urasaki. Many of the participants in this screening were young Myanmar people working in Okinawa. Myanmar food prepared by the young participants was served, and the screening was held in a communal atmosphere over a meal. After the screening, participants shared their thoughts on their lives away from Myanmar.
On day 2, with the cooperation of Professor Chiyo Wakabayashi (Okinawa University), a screening was held in the university’s theater. Following the screening, filmmaker Rico Fukuchi joined the discussion, where speakers engaged in deeper conversations about the role of moving images as archives and records.
On day 3, the event took place at a temporary screening venue set up at Asahi Fukuhara’s office in Sakaemachi, Naha City. Joined by a Myanmar couple Thu Ya Soe and Cho Cho Khaing, also based in Sakaemachi, who run Royal Myanmar Restaurant and established the Myanmar Association in Okinawa, discussions about how they communicate the realities of Myanmar’s coup from Okinawa. Dr. Nang Mya Kay Khaing (Specially Appointed Associate Professor, Kyoto Seika University) accompanied the three-day “Docu Athan Theatre #Okinawa” event, participating as a guest and lecturer.
A screening-based exhibition, “Docu Athan Theatre,” was held at the art festival “Kenduri Seni Patani” as one of the programs of “Rebuilding Theater,” curated by collective member and curator Haruka Iharada. The Kenduri Seni Patani is a large-scale, art festival-style event that takes place across nine venues throughout the city, including the organizer, Patani Artspace. New Thai-subtitled versions of the films were produced on this occasion, and screenings for the artists participating in the art festival were held at the festival opening event.
●Participation and Collaboration in Screenings
Docu Athan participated in “African and Asian Societies and Their Challenges through Film,” a screening-based research event in Kyoto, led by Nang Mya Kay Khaing, who had joined the Okinawa screenings. The event provided an opportunity to exchange ideas with students studying anthropology and area studies in Kyoto, as well as with those in the Kansai region engaged in Myanmar-related activities.
●Community Space Making Project in Thailand
We established a community space, “Docu Athan Square,” in Mae Sot, Thailand, aiming to cultivate collaboration with Myanmar artists. We worked on creating a space that helps us deepen our connections with Myanmar artists through hosting filming equipment rental programs, workshops on how to use the equipment, a workshop-style event series “Docu Agora,” where participants gathered to watch and discuss documentaries and other genres of video works, and workshops on journalism and filming.
●Docu Athan Theatre #TOKYO
This event featured talks and sharing sessions with various guests as well as video screenings. The screening exhibition consisted of two programs—“Art” and “Journalism”—and included not only works previously created by Myanmar artists, but also new works to be showcased in Japan for the first time. We also invited artist Takuro Kotaka; Jinshiro Motoyama, who organizes a music festival in Okinawa; and Alric Lee, who takes a cultural approach to the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, to talk with the participants about their respective initiatives and exchange ideas.
Over the past year, we have been able to dedicate ourselves fully to creating two kinds of spaces: spaces for collaboration with Myanmar artists, and spaces for sharing and communicating their work and experiences. Through the community space making project “Docu Athan Square” in Mae Sot, Thailand, we were able to provide opportunities and an environment to “create video work” for Myanmar artists. Not only did we establish a place, but we also held many workshops, study sessions, and other educational programs, which we believe helped build the foundation for a community centered around moving-image practices in Mae Sot.
In addition to the above, the screening programs organized in Okinawa, Kyoto, Thailand, and Tokyo not only created opportunities to share the realities and perspectives of Myanmar artists through their works but also helped us encounter those with a wide range of backgrounds, hear their responses to the films, and receive feedback on our projects. These exchanges further allowed us to learn about the local community’s initiatives and challenges.
In the midst of this initiative, we reached February, marking four years since the coup in Myanmar. The turmoil and instability triggered by the coup have not subsided, civil society faces numerous difficulties, and artists and people in Myanmar continue to live with various forms of violence and anxiety. On the other hand, awareness of these situations, as well as international interest, is gradually waning. It will remain essential to continue creating opportunities to raise awareness. Furthermore, we strongly feel the need to expand our networks so that we can collaborate with the artists facing these challenges and ensure their work continues.
We cherish the opportunities that this grant has created, and we intend to continue and expand our activities in the future.