Myanmar’s Killing Fields 1x54

Best Current Affairs Documentary Nominee – Grierson Trust’s 2018 British Documentary Awards

With secret footage filmed by a network of citizen activists and firsthand accounts from victims and their families, Myanmar’s Killing Fields is the most comprehensive investigation of the Myanmar military’s violent crackdown on the Rohingya Muslim minority—an effort that has been described by the UN as having the “hallmarks of genocide.” The Myanmar military insists that its campaign was simply a counter-insurgency “clearance operation” targeted against a militant Islamist Rohingya group, ARSA, that had attacked and killed security forces at police and army bases. The documentary depicts an orchestrated campaign to target civilians, state-sanctioned violence and mass murder—and uncovers new accounts of atrocities against the Rohingya people, from mass rape of women and children, to babies and children thrown into fires.

The film also investigates the role of Aung San Suu Kyi, State Counsellor of Myanmar, in the crisis. The Nobel Laureate was once seen as Myanmar’s hope and a beacon for democracy—including by President Barack Obama, who lifted all sanctions on the country in 2016. But Suu Kyi, who has continued to defend her country from international criticism, has now been accused of standing by as her country’s military led an operation that killed thousands of civilians.

Inflight rights also available.

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