Burma captures filmmaker’s eye

Burmese children talk with the crew behind the documentary, “They Call It Myanmar: Lifting the Curtain.”

The film was shot over a two-year period by Lieberman, who also is a best-selling novelist and a physics professor at Cornell University, and his crew.

The film provides a rare look at the second-most isolated country on the planet. It lifts the curtain to expose the everyday life in a country that has been held in the iron grip of a brutal military regime for 48 years.

Lieberman says the documentary was culled from more than 200 hours of footage, which included interviews and interactions of more than 100 people throughout Burma.

Lieberman says the film was almost complete and he had to fly back to get an interview with Aung San Suu Kyi, who was released from house arrest imposed by Burma’s military junta. She was given the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 and in June finally accepted the award, more than two years after it was awarded.

“When I heard she was released, I immediately flew back to Burma and worked hard at getting the interview,” he says. “I knew the questions that I would ask her and they were simple questions.”

Lieberman says he asked her to describe Burma.

“I told her that I know she couldn’t describe it in five hours,” he explains. “She turned to me and told me that the explanation would take more than five days.”

Lieberman says Burma has tumbled from one of the most prosperous and advanced countries in Southeast Asia to one of the world’s poorest.

“It’s a great and interesting time for Burma,” he says. “They have been in the news and it’s such a unique area. All of the people there are hungry for an outside influence.”

During his trip, Lieberman says he taught some classes at the film school there and brought along some films.

“The students were blown away when I showed ‘Some Like It Hot,’” he says. “They all wanted to purchase the movie and it’s all because they don’t have access to it all.”

Lieberman says he got interested in making the documentary film because he thinks Burma is fascinating.

“I grew up a child of World War II and I heard these names while I was growing up,” he says. “The names conjured up images in my head of what the area is like. Burma is so different from those countries and it’s just unique and isolated. And because of its isolation, you find culture that hasn’t been taken over from Western capitalism.”

While Liberman filmed, there were some scary moments. At times Lieberman was asked what he was doing and what his purpose was in the area.

“I never really feared for myself,” he admits. “But I did fear for the Burmese. The ones that helped me, I didn’t want anything to happen to them and I worried for their safety.”

Aside from filmmaking and teaching at Cornell, Lieberman is also an author. He says he was going to write this film as a novel, but decided to just make it as a film.

“This story had to be told,” he says. “I wanted to tell a simple story about the people that live there and how they thrive.”

Lieberman’s latest book is called “The Last Boy.” He says that his novels read just like movies because they are driven by dialogue.

“They are easy reads and that’s what I strived for to get the film done,” he explains. “I wanted to show the Burmese people in their natural element and how the country has evolved over time.”

‘They Call It Myanmar: Lifting the Curtain’
WHEN: 2:30 p.m. Saturday, July 7 and Sunday, July 8
WHERE: Guild Cinema, 3405 E. Central
HOW MUCH: $7 general admission, $5 kids and seniors