After decades of isolation, Burma is taking fresh steps toward democracy. The West has strengthened diplomatic ties and trade, but familiar fault lines still threaten prospects for lasting stability.
Following years of white-knuckle rule in Burma, observers are celebrating the election of Aung San Suu Kyi and reclaimed hopes for democratic transition; meanwhile, war blankets the northern Kachin state, and tens of thousands are displaced from their homes.
Filmmakers Jason Motlagh and Steve Sapienza recently traveled to the region to document and share voices from these communities. In this film they explore a previously hidden crisis.
A screening of "Blood & Gold: Inside Burma's Hidden War" will be followed by a discussion with Motlagh.
Motlagh is a writer, photographer and filmmaker. Until recently TIME's Kabul correspondent, he has reported from around Afghanistan and more than forty countries for leading U.S. and international media, including The Economist, The Washington Post, The New Republic, US News & World Report and Frontline/WORLD. He has also produced news documentaries for PBS's NewsHour, Foreign Exchange, and Al Jazeera English.
In recent years, Motlagh has received several grants from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting to cover insurgencies and human rights issues across Asia. In 2010, his four-part series on the Mumbai terror attacks for VQR, widely acclaimed as the definitive account, won the Digital National Magazine Award for News Reporting.
A graduate of the University of Virginia, Motlagh worked as a commercial fisherman in Kodiak, Alaska before entering journalism. These days, he lives in the Bay Area, where he's just launched the production company Blackbeard Films. www.blackbeardfilms.com
Wednesday, November 14, 2012 at 5:00PM
SAIS Rome Building, Room 812
1619 Massachusetts Avenue, NW Washington, D.C.
Please RSVP to saisilo@jhu.edu
Organized by The International Law & Organizations Program at The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University
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Recently
In the wake of bloody sectarian violence last year, more and more Rohingyas are betting what little they still have on a dangerous journey at sea.
Tension and despair are driving greater numbers of stateless Rohingyas to tempt fate on the open sea.
Project
Grantee
Jason Motlagh is a writer, photographer and filmmaker. Until recently TIME Magazine’s Kabul correspondent, he has reported from around Afghanistan and more than 35 countries for leading U.S...