Friends in High Places - PREVIEW

Purchase: http://www.der.org/films/friends-in-high-places.html Whether contending with a deceitful daughter-in-law, forecasting financial prospects for a tea shop, or freeing a husband from government detainment, Friends in High Places reveals the central role of nats and spirit mediums in alleviating the day to day burdens of modern Burmese life.

Just as nats lie somewhere on the spectrum between mortals and the divine, the gay men who serve as primary conduits for the nat spirits are considered to be neither male nor female. Regarded by society with a curious mix of disdain and reverence, the male mediums profiled in this film -- ranging from the gentle, melancholy "Lady Silver Wings" to the hard drinking, ego-driven "Mr. Famous" -- illustrate the special niche granted to gay men in Burmese society.

Exquisite footage accentuates Lindsey Merrison's keen eye for nuance as she takes the viewer on a journey examining the extremes that define Burmese spirit mediums and their way of life. Deceit and artistry, tragedy and comedy, faith and cynicism -- in a country known both as a 2,500 year bastion of Buddhism and more recently for its legacy of political corruption and instability, the world of the nat becomes an analogy for the many unusual juxtapositions within Burma itself.

a video by Lindsey Merrison
distributed by Documentary Educational Resources

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Burma
• Myanmar
• politics
• spirit
• medium
• shaman
• gay
• anthropology
• documentary
• film

[docued]

Thanks!

[lunalamin]

don't confuse buddha with god...he's not god...

he's better than that...

[grindstedlife]

this two old lady is damn funny ,, and

damn right they talk about nat!!! hahaha

[yelay165]

great work 5/5