Maung Sun
DirectorEmmanuel Angeles
ProducerMyanmar
CountryLogline
In the jade mining town of Hpakant, three teenagers with different backgrounds, Aung, Sun, and Nyi, embark on a risky journey to smuggle a valuable jade stone to China, driven by their dreams of becoming millionaire over night.
Short Synopsis
In the jade mining region of Hpakant in northern Myanmar, three young individuals, Aung (19), Sun (17), and Nyi (15), work as illegal handpickers, risking their lives each day. Moon (18) works at a karaoke lounge, supporting her family, and shares a romantic relationship with Sun.
Their lives take an unexpected turn when they stumble upon an opportunity to acquire a first grade jade stone. However, lacking the necessary funds, Moon sleeps with a jade laoban to secure a loan. The trio embarks on a perilous journey, crossing the Myanmar-China border through difficult mountain route. Lum, a Burmese jade broker working in China, brings them to the border city of Ruili.
They encounter various jade buyers, with offers reaching up to 6 million Yuan. Shay, a familiar jade broker from Hpakant, approaches them, promising a potential buyer willing to pay more. Trusting Shay, they fall victim to his deceit as he steals their precious stone. Left stranded in a foreign land, unable to communicate in Chinese and penniless, they find themselves utterly alone.
Aung's girlfriend decides to marry someone else, and communication between Sun and Moon ceases. Nyi, suffering from withdrawal as his drugs run out, starts suffering. After weeks of hardship, they embark on a journey back to Myanmar where the region is amidst a raging civil war.
Meanwhile, seeking repayment for her loan, Moon finds herself at a crossroads, forced to make a difficult decision to secure money.
Finally reaching Aung's village, Nyi gradually recovers, leaving Aung with a desire to remain in the village.
Sun and Nyi set out alone on their return journey to Hpakant. They could not find Moon in Karaoke lounge.
During a trip to a mining site, they encounter a devastating landslide. Nyi narrowly escapes but fails to find Sun. Desperate, he contacts the drug dealer, and to his surprise, Moon arrives as the delivery girl. Without exchanging many words, they ride away in a bike together, disappearing into the horizon.
Maung Sun
Born in Myanmar in 1983, Maung Sun is a filmmaker currently in exile. His first feature film MONEY HAS FOUR LEGS world-premiered at Busan International Film Festival 2020 in competition for the New Currents Award. It traveled to Locarno, BFI London, New York Asian, and more festivals in 2021. In the same year, he was the first filmmaker from Myanmar to be selected for the Cannes Film Festival’s Cinéfondation Residence and Caméra libre residency. He participated in Talents Tokyo 2022 and Berlinale Talents 2023.
Emmanuel Angeles
Twenty Manila is a boutique agency and production company born out of a house marked as No.20 in one of the stereotypical streets of Manila - a mix of social classes and dog breeds in one stretch.
Having reached 20 in human years, TWENTY MANILA celebrates working with the top corporations in the Philippines for their video, advertising, and event needs - taking on multiple creative pursuits that have launched and celebrated products in real estate, music, digital finance, banking, transportation, mining, telcos, and TV stations.
When the world felt like it was ending in 2020, it tipped its work schedules towards filmmaking co-producing with animation savant Avid Liongoren an animation feature entitled You Animal!: The Nimfa Dimaano Story. It was released across Asia through Netflix in 2020. The year after, it became the first Philippine animation to be officially selected in Annecy.
Currently, it is in the production stage of its second animation film, Ella Arcangel: Ballad of Tooth and Claw. Within 2 years of its development, it has taken part in Focus Asia, Italy and the ATF in Singapore under the Ties that Bind Animation Lab. It has received 2 co-production film grants from the Philippines.
For its third film, Twenty Manila is excited to co-produce with Myanmar-born director Maung Sun on Future Laobans, a story of friendship and the pursuit of wealth via one piece of jade.