On March 28, 2025, a powerful earthquake struck central Myanmar, leaving behind a trail of devastation across multiple regions, including the hard-hit Pyaw Bwe Township in the Mandalay Region. Entire communities were uprooted—homes destroyed, temples reduced to rubble, and the emotional landscape of survivors left profoundly altered. The immediate aftermath revealed not only the physical destruction but also a deep psychological and cultural rupture that continues to resonate in silence.
May Thyn Kyi, a freelance filmmaker from Myanmar, produced From/Earthquake with the support of SEA Junction and CMB through the 2025 Small Grant program. In this short film, composed of scenes of disasters in the background and a lady in white in the front, accompanied with poem, capture the heart wrenching, post-disaster realities of people in the country.
Arises from the urgent need to confront and process this collective trauma—not through conventional reportage or documentation, but through an artistic lens that embraces emotion, symbolism, and quiet testimony. In a context where grief often remains unspoken and mourning is woven into daily endurance, the film seeks to provide space for reflection, empathy, and remembrance.
This work addresses a gap in the public narrative: the interior emotional world of disaster survivors, especially women, is often sidelined in favor of statistics and logistical responses. By centering a silent female figure within the ruined landscapes, From/Earthquake offers a counter-image to the noise of disaster—an invitation to witness and feel, rather than to explain or analyze.
The film is also an opportunity to preserve and honor the memory of places now altered beyond recognition. Through visual storytelling and voice, it proposes art as both a memorial and healing process, contributing to the longer-term cultural recovery that must accompany material reconstruction. In doing so, the project hopes to foster a deeper understanding of resilience—not as immediate recovery, but as a quiet, enduring relationship with loss.
Watch the full video on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/-L3C21rIbHY
