Near Mandalay

Mandalay once used to be the capital of the last Burmese kingdom and today is the second largest city in Myanmar. In its vicinity the great Nat-Festival is celebrated regularly (Nat=spirit). Nats are extremely popular in Myanmar, it is to them that the people tell their wishes and hopes. Nyein Chan Sun used an unobtrusive hand-held camera to shoot his video documentation of both the festival and the conditions within which it takes place. The myth of the old Buddhist kingdom encounters modernity in a twofold sense: Near Mandalay reveals the mechanisms of commercialising faith and religion as well as documenting how a century-old ritual becomes framed by contemporary video art.