https://vimeo.com/141872508

Katie Murphy Amphitheatre (FIT) – 12:00pm
Friday, October 16th
Short Film Corner 1

12 min | Documentary | United States | 2015
NY Premiere
By Carole J. Wilson & Michael Henry Wilson

SYNOPSIS:

The spirit of peace and reconciliation is put to the test during the tumultuous transition from a military regime to a fledgling democracy in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. Using a chorus of prominent freedom leaders to tell the story, they describe their country as it undergoes major transformations politically, economically and spiritually. They address the results of surprising reforms following the 2011 general elections that inaugurated greater freedom of press, the opening of trade with the international community, and the release of many political prisoners in 2012. The documentary portrays an emotional journey of a country’s people as they leapfrog into the modern world. Time will tell if recent developments mark the first steps toward real liberalization and national reconciliation, or if the influence of the military and its cronies will prevail in the rush for new riches. The filmmakers had unique access to leading figures in the struggle for freedom, many of whom had just been released from prison in the 2012 amnesty or allowed to return from exile. The film is a singular and moving view of Myanmar as it stands at a critical juncture; the well being of its people hangs in the balance. The world needs to know their story now.

DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY:

CAROLE J. WILSON
Co-director, Writer, Producer, Director of Photography
Carole J. Wilson comes to film production with an extensive background in management consulting, public relations and fine arts. Under the auspices of her production company High Wire Productions, she has worked on a variety of film projects coordinating research and development for treatments/scripts, interviewing high-profile entertainment people, working on public relations and interfacing with international film festivals. She was the Director of Photography on Myanmar Year Zero, which recently won “Best Documentary Short” at the Los Angeles Cinema Festival of Hollywood.

Currently, she has two other documentary projects in production with principle photography completed: Zen Centenarian, and Last Glimmers: the Secret Yogi.

On the award-winning Reconciliation: Mandela’s Miracle (PBS, Warner Bros. Netflix, 2010) she was involved in every aspect of production, ranging from Executive Producer to Producer to Post-production Supervisor. She co-produced Clint Eastwood: A Life in Film (Arte, 2007) and was a production consultant and title designer on In a Search of Kundun (Canal Plus 1998).

She simultaneously pursues a career as a painter and is best known for her use of vivid colors and gold leaf. She has exhibited in numerous locations, including Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Paris.

MICHAEL HENRY WILSON
Co-director
Born and educated in Paris, France, Michael Henry Wilson was a bicultural writer and filmmaker living near Los Angeles. He co-directed the first two shoots for Myanmar Year Zero – one in Los Angeles when Suu Kyii adressed the Burmese community, and then the final shoot in Myanmar in March 2014. He died of cancer a few months after returning to Los Angeles and had been unaware of his illness when in Myanmar.

His previous film, Reconciliation: Mandela’s Miracle, is about Nelson Mandela and his historic achievement to end apartheid (PBS, Warner Bros. Netflix, 2010). Additionally, Clint Eastwood: A Life in Film focuses on Eastwood’s approach to filmmaking (Arte, 2007) and has been widely aired in Europe. Wilson was also co-writing and co-directing with Martin Scorsese a three-part documentary series on classic British cinema. This followed A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese, the celebration of 100 years of American movies that he co-wrote and co-directed with Scorsese (BFI-Channel 4-Miramax). The three-part series premiered at the 1995 Cannes Festival, was nominated for the British Academy Awards, and toured more than thirty international festivals.

Wilson also wrote and directed In Search of Kundun, a theatrical documentary that chronicles Scorsese’s encounter with the Tibetan people and the Dalai Lama (Canal Plus, 1998), receiving the Humanitarian Award at the United Nations Festival in Geneva. He authored the Scorsese episode of A Day in the Life of the Cinema (Canal Plus, 1995), The Cinema of James Cameron (Canal Plus, 1999), probed renegade filmmakers in Hollywood Mavericks co-authored with Todd McCarthy and Florence Dauman (American Film Institute-NHK, 1989) and associate-directed the seven-hour TV show When the Lion Roars – The MGM Story (Turner Entertainment), which won the Emmy for best informational series in 1992.

With extensive production experience on both sides of the Atlantic, Wilson worked on several award-winning pictures as producer Anatole Dauman’s assistant at Argos Films (Empire of Passion, The Tin Drum) and served as a multi-faceted film consultant to production and distribution entities both in the US and France. He was associated with director Alan Rudolph as a creative consultant on The Moderns (1988) and co-wrote the surrealistic comedy Intimate Affairs (Showtime, 2008) starring in and produced by Nick Nolte.

A noted film historian, Wilson published many books: The German Expressionist Cinema (Editions du Signe, 1971); Borzage (with Henri Agel, Avant-Scène, 1971); A Personal Journey Through American Movies (Miramax Books-Cahiers du Cinéma, 1997); Raoul Walsh or the Saga of the Lost Continent (Cinémathèque Française, 2001) that won Best Film Essay by the French Guild of Film Critics; Jacques Tourneur or The Magic of Suggestion (Pompidou Museum, 2003); Martin Scorsese – Interviews with M.H. Wilson (Pompidou Museum/Cahiers du Cinéma, 2005); and Clint Eastwood – Interviews with M.H. Wilson (Cahiers du Cinéma, 2007). Updated versions of the last two books were released by Cahiers du Cinéma in 2011 under the titles Scorsese on Scorsese and Eastwood on Eastwood. His lastest books included, Mud or the Sky: The Story of G.I. Joe (Wild Side) A la Porte du Paradis, (Armand Collier 2014) and Michael Mann’s Thief, published posthumously. (Wild Side 2015).

A longtime contributor to the French monthly review Positif, Wilson conducted in depth interviews with most of the major filmmakers in the old and new Hollywood. His articles have appeared in numerous magazines, anthologies and encyclopedias. Wilson, whose PhD thesis was devoted to German Expressionism (1969), lectured on the economy and aesthetics of film at Paris University throughout the 1970’s.

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