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Burma Evening at the Embassy

In connection with the celebrations of the 20th anniversary of the fall of Communism the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Copenhagen in cooperation with the Prague Society International Cooperation, a close partner of the Global Panel Foundation, arranged a thematic evening about Burma.

The director of the Prague Burma Center, Ms. Sabe Amthor Soe, was the main guest of the evening.

After the introduction by Sabe Amthor Soe, the screening of the film Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country by the Danish director Anders Østergaard took place. The gripping documentary offers an authentic record of the events of the Saffron Revolution in 2007, when the Burmese took to the streets of Rangoon with a massive support from Buddhist monks, and the brutal dispersal of the demonstrations by the military regime. Burma VJ has received numerous awards at international festivals, including the Václav Havel Special Award at the One World Human Rights Film Festival in Prague, the main prize at the CPH: DOX festival in Copenhagen and IDFA in Amsterdam.

From the left: Czech Ambassador Zdeněk Lyčka, director of the Prague Burma Center Sabe Amthor Soe and Burmese martial arts master U Htwe Thaung

Around 40 guests attended the evening including the representative of Danish Burma Committee Anette Berentzen and representatives of the Burmese community in Denmark. After the film screening a discussion accompanied by Czech refreshments took place at the residence of the Ambassador. In connection with the celebrations of the 20th anniversary of the fall of Communism in Europe, Ambassador Zdeněk Lyčka reminded the existence of totalitarian regimes in other parts of the world. The Burma/Myanmar issue belongs to the priorities of the foreign policy of the Czech Republic within the field of the human rights. The Czech Republic plays also an active role in the humanitarian aid projects in Burma.

Czech Ambassador Zdeněk Lyčka and the director of the Prague Burma Center, Sabe Amthor Soe (in the middle), together with the representatives of the Burmese Community in Denmark

Director Sabe Amthor Soeintroduced also other campaigns of the Prague Burma Center via en short film, especially the humanitarian aid project helping the victims of the famine caused by the cyclone Nargis in 2008. A new documentary, shot by two Burmese undercover cameramen entitled Orphans of Burma´s Cyclone, is also dealing with this topic. An article published in the Information on 20 November 2009 (translation from the British daily The Independent) reports about the current situation in Burma.