The Road to Mandalay

Midi Z : 2016

The people-traffickers have a well-established route: from Burma into Thailand across the Mekong River at Tachileik; along quiet country roads; passing bribed police checkpoints and then into Bangkok, where the illegal migrants are on their own. Lianqing is one of five illegals who travel this route one summer night in 2013; along the way a fellow migrant called Guo is kind to her, and their fates later become entwined. By the standards of illegals, Lianqing does well: she finds 'underground' jobs, saves money and finds out how and where to buy faked identity papers. But Guo does less well. They are two people with contradictory personalities, however they seem to be bound by fate. Midi Z's feature was winner of the Fedeora Award for Best Film when it premiered in competition at Venice Days 2016.

Ice Poison

Midi Z : 2014
Bing du

A young farmer and his father are barely able to survive on their meagre corn harvest and so they make their way down from the mountains to the village to borrow money from their relatives working in jade mines or on opium plantations. But missing paperwork, deceit and corruption have left them impoverished too. Finally, the father pawns his cow for a scooter so that his son can earn a living as a taxi driver. His first fare is Sanmei, who has returned to Burma to bury her grandfather. She's desperate to earn her and her son's way out of China, and to get out of an arranged marriage in order to begin a new life in her old country. When Sanmei accepts a job as a drug runner she persuades the young farmer to be her driver and the pair teams up to mule crystal meth (ice poison) around the city. Midi Zhao's third feature quietly observes two people's sense of alienation and their fear of losing their livelihood. His film premiered at Berlin International Film Festival 2014.

Dharma River

The Yatra Trilogy of John Bush

Yatra is the Sanskrit word for pilgrimage or spiritual journey. As the first documentary in the Yatra Trilogy, Dharma River is a timeless journey through legendary rivers to the greatest Buddhist temples and mystical sites of Laos, Thailand and Burma. It offers a direct experience of lost civilisations, sacred spaces, and ancient traditions.

The Buddha image reverberates continually through Dharma River and in dozens of temples, caves and shrines, yet it is never the same. The film's narration explores the different cultural representations of this universal icon of inner peace and its contemporary relevance.

John Bush is a filmmaker and photographer who has lived and travelled in Asia for more than three decades, sharing its sacred sites, culture and images in his work. His films and images are in museums and private collections around the world.