&PROUD Yangon LGBT Photography and Film Festival 2018
Government of Denmark

Throughout 2018 &PROUD will build on the foundation of the successful first three editions of the festival. Our mission remains to implement cultural programmes to increase discussion around LGBT rights and to further the movement for social change and legal reform for LGBT communities in Myanmar. However in 2018 we would like to expand our impact. Key activities will include:

• Film Festival Fourth Edition (Feb 2018). We intend to use the model of the 2017 festival for the 4th edition, holding it over a weekend (Thursday to Sunday 1-4 Feb 2018), and focusing on film from Asia, all subtitled in Burmese. We intend to continue to hold debates and question/answer sessions as part of the festival programme as we have before. Debates will include both film makers and activists. Our community programme was very well received last year, particularly the Human Library and we would like to continue and expand that this year.

• &PROUD In The Park. In conjunction with the main film festival we will organize an event in one of the main public parks in Yangon. This will involve screenings of films (including the Rainbow Reels films from Myanmar) and discussions/speeches as well as entertainment by members of the community. The reason for doing this is to reach as many people as possible who would not otherwise come to the main festival and to create a ‘Pride’ like event to promote discussion about LGBT rights.

• Outreach to other cities in Myanmar as well as schools and colleges. The film festival in Yangon is an excellent platform to reach a large number of the LGBT community, and media. However, to reach a greater proportion of our target beneficiaries we intend to use the festival as a springboard for other screenings in colleges and Universities, as well as in other parts of the country. In particular we want to build on and expand the two day festival we organized last year in Mandalay, which is Myanmar’s second city, and the successful debut of &PROUD Mandalay shows that there is appetite for a larger festival event there which will involve screenings as well as debates and entertainment.

• Media and Advocacy Work around LGBT issues with government, lawyers, and other senior officials. We will continue our media outreach work in order to foster stronger discussion of LGBT issues in the media (particularly TV/radio and social media), providing speakers and members of the LGBT community to talk to journalists. We will refresh our media outreach strategy this year to find new angles for media interest.

The &PROUD Yangon LGBT+ Film Festival will further contribute to the growing movement for legal change and equal rights for LGBT communities in Myanmar through meeting five objectives.

• To foster wider debate around LGBT issues, through screenings of Myanmar and other Asian LGBT films and through photography exhibitions. These will take place at the main film festival (January 2018), and through special screenings of films in cities across Myanmar and in schools and colleges.

• The festival will create more media discussion of LGBT issues through press outreach, interviews and film screenings for journalists.

• By bringing in films from across south east Asia which reflect the diversity of LGBT lives and the political movements that are taking place in other countries the festival will expose the Myanmar LGBT community to examples of how LGBT communities are challenging discrimination and claiming their rights elsewhere in Asia and the world.

The key target group for the &PROUD LGBT Film Festival events are the LGBT community across different parts of Myanmar. We have equal focus on men and women, and the transgender population, who are more visible and therefore vulnerable to stigma and police action. We aim to make the festival as accessible as possible to Myanmar people through ensuring all publicity is in Burmese and English and all films (rights permitting) subtitled in Burmese. These are the key agents for change on LGBT rights issues in Myanmar, and particularly young LGBT activists who we intend to equip with film-making skills.

LGBT populations outside Yangon and of other ethnic groups will be reached by special screenings organized through Colours Rainbow partner groups in different cities. A special festival was organized in Mandalay in April 2017 and will be repeated in 2018. This will help to increase young people’s awareness of sexuality issues and through reaching the next generation of leaders will accelerate movement for change. We will also organise screenings in at least three other cities in Myanmar. One is planned for Lashio in December.

Secondary beneficiaries include Myanmar people who are not LGBT but who will be able to understand more about LGBT lives and about issues of sexual and reproductive health and rights in general, including in Myanmar. All festival activities are as open as possible to all people, and one of the great achievements of the festival in 2016 and 2017 was that a number of non-LGBT people came to see films and took part in discussion about LGBT rights issues. In 2018 we will organise a special screening in a public park space in Yangon which will increase visibility of the festival among non-LGBT people. Reaching this secondary audience will help to open a more inclusive social space for LGBT people.