Director: Timothy Syrota.
A young woman has a nightmare about the killing of her father by soldiers in a mountain village in Burma. She wakes up. She is in a refugee camp on the Thai-Burma border. She has already been here for 6 years but still her mind is not here. Instead, it drifts between the realities of refugee life and dreams and day-dreams about Burma and a life she used to live. She is with her childhood buffalo friend, Zu Zu Ma, she has imaginary conversations with her fishermen friends, and she dreams of the family she used to have. Burmese Dreaming combines a composed musical score with a non-fiction narrative scripted by refugees from Umphiem Mai refugee camp and based on the story of Say Say Lah, a young woman who was imprisoned by the Burmese military at age 5. Footage for Burmese Dreaming has been filmed throughout Burma including areas held by the Karen National Liberation Army, as well as in the refugee camps on the Thai-Burma border. This is the first feature documentary of author, director and international award winning photojournalist Timothy Syrota.