Inside Lens S2018E01 - City of Jade

Currently, Myanmar is undergoing some form of democratisation, however, it is not a linear process in terms of time. As the war between the government and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) is still going, the corporations are forced to halt their operation in the jade mines. Time seems to have frozen in this war zone while waves of poor workers flock to the area. Carrying simple digging tools, they arrive in this paradise, dreaming of getting rich overnight; none of them has ever woken from that dream. The director, Midi Z, is the protagonist's youngest brother. Midi had pictured this place in his head since he was little but never had the chance to see it for himself. Now he is trying to portray his brother in this documentary as he questions his brother why he became a drug addict and abandoned his family. Furthermore, at the time when Aung San Suu Kyi has once again brought hope to the Burmese, it is a film that depicts how people struggle for survival in the darkest corners of this probably the poorest country in Asia.