Fruit GatheringIn production
The debut feature by Aung Phyoe, director of three award-winning short films, is an intimate chamber piece set in present-day Myanmar (Burma) – a country torn by division and uncertainty. Within this fragile context, we follow two young women, factory workers San Kyi and Theint Theint Oo, as they grow closer during the monotonous days in a textile factory in an industrial zone of Yangon.
San Kyi, a rather reserved girl, increasingly considers returning to her native village, but jobs are scarce, so she tries to stay. Her feelings gradually begin to focus on the more pragmatic and confident Theint. Their relationship unfolds in shades of silence, gestures, and unspoken desires – in a space where closeness and love between women remain socially unacceptable.
The film gently touches on how female desire and fragile emotional bonds survive in an environment that offers them no space – caught between exhaustion from work, the impossibility of planning for the future, and the pressure of the collective.
It doesn’t rely on conventional dramatic structure but builds quiet tension through close observation of daily life. It is a subtle testimony to the persistence of emotional sensitivity in a world that is both harsh to live in and hostile to difference.
- Fruit Gathering
- သစ်သီ:စူ:[MM]
- Writer and director: Aung Phyoe
- Producers: Thaiddhi and Thu Thu Thein – Third Floor Film Production (MM)
- Co-producers: Clair Marquette – Art_Production (F), Vít Janeček – D1film
- Podpora: CNC – Cinéma du Monde (production), Czech Film Fund (production)
- Pitchings and development presentations and awards:
- Jury Award, Myanmar Script Fund (2017)
- Autumn Meeting Grand Prix for feature film project “Fruit Gathering” at Art House
- Film Corner Pitching, Vietnam (2018)
- FLY Film Lab (Session 1) 2019
- Southeast Asian Film Lab (SGIFF) 2019
- Luang Prabang Talents Lab (2019)
- Locarno Open Doors Hub, 2020 (Award: Development Grant CNC)
- Ties That Bind, 2020 (Selected)
Media reflections: