Aung San Suu Kyi will be on the screen

Film on Burma 's detained Nobel Laureate to commence soon

Mizzima News (www.mizzima.com)

January 15, 2008 - Italian film director Giuseppe Tornatore will soon capture the journey of Burmese pro-democracy icon, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, on celluloid in an effort to honour and highlight her struggle to restore democracy in her native land.

It will be an English film with an estimated budget of 30 million US dollars, Naofumi Okamoto, the film's Japanese producer said. Okamoto happens to be among the very few foreigners, who have met the detained Burmese leader. She has been under house arrest for the last 12 years of the 18 years she has spent in Burma.

Speaking to Mizzima over the telephone, Okamoto said, "The purpose of producing this film is to honour Noble Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, because she chooses to be a mother to a nation instead of being a mother to a family, it is a very difficult thing for women to do."

The film's script will be completed in May and shooting is likely to begin by September or October this year. It would be the first movie depicting the life and times of the Nobel Laureate.

"We are still working on the script, it may be finished by May and after that we will start shooting," Okamoto said.

According to the producer, the film would be shot in Southeast Asia, with Thailand and Vietnam being the most likely venues. Malaysia could also be considered. However, he added that nothing had been confirmed yet. He had chosen Italian award winning director Tornatore, as he was famous for making women-centric films, Okamoto said.

The Japanese producer, who had a chance to meet Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in the early 1990s, said he has been working on the film for several years and had finally, thought of commencing shooting.

"I have been trying to make this film for the past ten years and we have already met three times [with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi] and also got the permission from her for creating this film," Okamoto said.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is the daughter of Burma's independence hero General Aung San, who spearheaded the Burmese independence movement against the British colonial rulers. Educated at Oxford University and married to an English scholar, Suu Kyi, returned to her homeland in 1988, only to be met with political chaos, where the student-led protestors put an end to the more then 20 years of one party rule in the country.

She was catapulted to lead the Burmese Opposition after her public speeches during the time of protests. She later formed a political party – the National League for Democracy – which won a landslide victory in the 1990 General Elections.

Despite leading her party to victory, Suu Kyi was never allowed to govern the country, which her father had envisaged as a free and prosperous nation. Instead, the military rulers had her put under house arrest, detaining her for the past 12 of 18 years.