Na Gyi

Na Gyi (Burmese: ဏကြီး; born 2 May 1981) is a Burmese film director, known for his films, Mi (2018) and What Happened to the Wolf? (2021). He is considered a promising and prominent filmmaker in Myanmar Cinema. He is one of the founders of Fatty Gangster Production and works as a freelance director, director of photography, and writer. He has produced and directed feature films, music videos, and television commercials.[1]

Na Gyi
ဏကြီး
Born2 May 1981 (1981-05-02) (age 42)
Yangon, Myanmar
NationalityBurmese
Occupation(s)film director, writer, producer
Notable workMi (2018), What Happened to the Wolf? (2021)
SpousePaing Phyo Thu
Parents
  • Tin Oo (father)
  • Tin Tin Nwe (mother)
AwardsBest Director of Photography (AIFFA: 2019)
Best Director of Photography (Star Awards: 2019)
Best Narrative Feature (Dili International Film Festival: 2021)

Early life and education

Na Gyi was born in Yangon, Myanmar on 2 May 1981. He passed matriculation from BEHS (1), Dagon in 1998. During the study of engineering at Yangon Technology University, he left for London for further study. He studied Digital Filmmaking at Raindance, London. Na Gyi married Paing Phyo Thu, the lead actress[2] from his debut film, Mi on 1 January 2019.

Career

Na Gyi's career took off when his first feature film, Mi[3] was screened across the country in Myanmar. The film was an adaptation of the novel, "Mi" by prominent and well-respected novelist, Kyi Aye.[4] Although expectations were high, the film was well received by the audience. There were harsh public criticisms at Myanmar Academy Awards (2018) for leaving Mi with no award.[5]

Mi received 2 nominations (Best Actress, Best Film) and 1 award (Best Director of Photography) at ASEAN international Film Festival and Awards, 2019.[6] Mi was also officially selected for Cardiff International Film Festival (2020) and Festival International de Cinema de Lleida Visual Art (2020).

Na Gyi's second film, What Happened to the Wolf?[7] was officially selected and held the world premiere at Oldenburg International Film Festival in 2021. Due to the 2021 Myanmar coup ďétat, Na Gyi and Paing Phyo Thu were in hiding and not able to attend the Oldenburg International Film Festival.[8]

Political activities

Following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, Na Gyi and Paing Phyo Thu were active in anti-coup movements both in person at rallies and through social media. Denouncing the military coup, Na Gyi and Paing Phyo Thu have taken part in the protests since February. On 17 February 2021, warrant for his arrest was issued under section 505 (a) of the Myanmar Penal Code by the State Administration Council for speaking out against the Military Coup and supporting Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) along with several other celebrities.[9] Na Gyi and Paing Phyo Thu had to go into hiding ever since.[10][11]

Filmography

Awards and nominations
Year Award Category Film Result
2018 Myanmar Motion Picture Academy Awards Best Director of Photography Mi Nominated
2019 ASEAN International Film Festival & Awards Best Director of Photography Mi Won
2019 Star Awards Best Director of Photography Mi Won
2021 Dili International Film Festival Best Narrative Feature What Happened to the Wolf? Won
2021 Oldenburg International Film Festival Best Film What Happened to the Wolf? Nominated
2022 Hobnobben Film Festival Best Narrative Feature What Happened to the Wolf? Won

References
  1. "Na Gyi - the Bright Future of Myanmar Cinema". The Irrawaddy News. The Irrawaddy News. 27 Dec 2019.
  2. "Defying convention to find another kind of success". The Myanmar Times. 21 Mar 2019.
  3. "A movie about Mi". The Myanmar Times. 23 August 2018.
  4. "Kyi Aye: A life well lived". The Myanmar Times. 2018-08-23. Retrieved 2022-01-05.
  5. "Harsh Public Criticism for Myanmar Academy Awards". The Irrawaddy. 2019-03-28. Retrieved 2021-12-20.
  6. April 2019, ချစ်ပိုး 28 (2019-04-28). "ASEAN International Flim Festival မွာ "မီ" ဇာတ္ကားနဲ႔ဆုရခဲ့တဲ့ ဒါ႐ိုက္တာဏႀကီး". ဧရာဝတီ. Retrieved 2022-01-06.
  7. Felperin, Leslie (2021-09-16). "'What Happened to the Wolf?': Film Review | Oldenburg 2021". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2021-12-20.
  8. Roxborough, Scott (2021-09-16). "'What Happened to the Wolf?' Director Na Gyi on His Life in Hiding From the Myanmar Junta". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2021-12-20.
  9. "စစ်ကောင်စီကိုဆန့်ကျင်တဲ့ အနုပညာရှင်တွေကို ဆက်တိုက်အမှုဖွင့်နေ". Radio Free Asia. Retrieved 2021-12-20.
  10. Sandi Sidhu and Helen Regan. "Burmese actress goes into hiding as celebrities opposing Myanmar coup added to arrest list". CNN. Retrieved 2022-01-07.
  11. "Paing Phyo Thu". Mizzima Myanmar News and Insight. Retrieved 2022-01-07.
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