Lin Htet Aung: Experimental Filmmaker on Myanmar, Exile and Art After the Coup

Self-taught filmmaker Lin Htet Aung, who began his journey after attending a film festival in Yangon in 2017, has created a series of experimental films that emphasize a fluid, poetic essence rather than straightforward realism. His notable silent black-and-white short, Once Upon a Time There was a Mom (2023), features enigmatic family tales accompanied by piano, folk melodies, and traditional Burmese instruments, with intertitles that narrate the Vessantara Jātaka. This work was inspired by the sole surviving silent black-and-white film from Myanmar, Tin Maung's Mya Ga Naing (The Emerald Jungle) (1934). His last film shot in Myanmar, A Gentle Breeze (2026), tells a micro-bildungsroman of a rural boy, subtly addressing political themes to safeguard himself and his team. A Metamorphosis (2025) transforms government propaganda into a 'counter-nightmare.' After securing a spot at the Städelschule in Frankfurt, Lin departed Myanmar in December 2023, fearing conscription due to the military service law reinstated in February 2024. Since the 2021 coup, he has refrained from screening his films in Myanmar. Buried a Dog Called it Love (2026), filmed in Thailand with Thai actors, is set in socialist Myanmar during the 1970s under General Ne Win. Lin is currently venturing into art installations and working on his first feature screenplay.