Book Party - Silver Screens and Golden Dreams: A Social History of Burmese Cinema

The world tends to see Myanmar (Burma) as an ancient, idyllic land of emerald-green rice paddies dotted with golden pagodas, yet sadly tarnished by a contemporary reality of grinding poverty, a decades-long civil war, and the most enduring military dictatorship in modern history. Burmese society is frequently stereotyped as isolated, hidebound to Buddhist cultural foundations, or embroiled in military rule and civil strife. Its thriving, cosmopolitan film industry not only questions such orientalist archetypes but also provides an incisive lens to explore social history through everyday popular practices.

In a tour-de-force study of sixty years of cinematic entertainment, Silver Screens and Golden Dreams traces the veins of Burmese popular movies across three periods in history: the colonial era, the parliamentary democracy period, and the Ne Win Socialist years.

Author Associate Professor Jane Ferguson engages cinema as an interrogator of mainstream cultural values, providing political and cultural context to situate the films as artistic endeavors and capitalist products.

The ANU Myanmar Research Centre (MRC) invites you to a special 'Book Party' - the event will present some Burmese film clips during the reception at the Atrium. Associate Professor Jane Ferguson, and Dr Yuri Takahashi from the ANU School of Culture, History and Language will discuss the content of the book, and the Director of MRC, Associate Professor Nick Cheesman will chair this event.

Book Sale - A limited number of books will be available for sale for AUD $75 (card only).

Light refreshments and Burmese film clips screening in the Atrium at 5.30pm
Book talks in HB1 at 6pm

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