04/08/2021 - Saeed Taji Farouky’s new feature-length documentary is a portrait of a family in flux, and a story of intergenerational conflict and compromise

In the Magway region of Myanmar, a country home to one of the oldest petroleum industries in the world, live husband and wife Thein Shwe and Htwe Tin. Running an unregulated oil field, they produce a barrel every few days. They wish, above all else, to see their youngest son succeed, to break the cycle of poverty. A kettle boils. Mud-slicked hands work sputtering machines. The ambient sound of a football match hums from a nearby television. “These days passed quickly,” Htwe says.

This is the premise of A Thousand Fires [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Palestinian-British director Saeed Taji Farouky’s new documentary. The movie, set to premiere at the upcoming Locarno Semaine de la Critique (6-13 August), follows the helmer’s previous non-fiction feature, Tell Spring Not To Come This Year [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Saeed Taji Farouky
film profile], the winner of the Panorama Audience Award and the Amnesty International Film Prize at the 2015 Berlinale. Described as “a portrait of a family in flux” and “a story of intergenerational conflict and compromise”, A Thousand Fires is “a film of transient moments; of hopes and aspirations; of faith in the forces of karma and luck; of a place, a community, and the rhythms of the day-to-day; of lingering memories and a turbulent past; and of life persisting, regardless”.

The picture was produced by Estelle Robin You for France’s Point du Jour - Les films du balibari, Palmyre Badinier for Switzerland’s AKKA Films and Joram Willink for the Netherlands’ BIND, with May Odeh serving as the associate producer. Vienna-based outfit Square Eyes is in charge of its sales.

Check out our exclusive trailer below: