Short Film
Thunder Bird
Babylon Kreuzberg
29.05.2026 – 20:30
Director: Anonymous
Writer: Anonymous
Country: Myanmar, 2025
Language: Burmese Language
Subtitle: English
Duration: 16:23 min
In a wide field, beside the night market where the pagoda festival has taken place, there is a 65-year-old gay, is performing with the old songs on a shaky theatre stage underneath the spotlights. She has covered the wrinkles and smile lines with a thick makeup. Her performance and dance are as active as a youngster. She is the second generation and the leader of Thunder Bird troupe, which is established 50 years ago, Mommy Soe a.k.a Phyu Hnin Mg. It is the first and only entrepreneur artist group capable of making the conservative Myanmar society accepted them around in 1980s, in the socialist time ruled by U Ne Win. There were a lot of audience who accepted, loved and came to watch them. But there were also a few who threw rocks violently and shouted and mocked at them: ‘Homo! Faggot!’. When there was no dancing stage, Mommy Soe worked as an assistant make-up artist in her friend’s beauty salon.
She met and fell in love with Abai, Ko Kyaw Zin Oo in 1987 and he became the manager of the Thunder Bird. In 1988, 88 uprising has taken place in Myanmar and the group split up. Meanwhile, although Abai, Ko Kyaw Zin Oo, who was both a life and business partner, was an Iman and led and reunited Thunder Bird troupe together with Mommy Soe in 1989. He worked as the manager who arranged the performances for thirty years.
There was COVID epidemic in 2020 and a Coup d’etat for the third time in 2021. So all the performances were cancelled. Although Mommy Soe and Abai regrouped their troupe and performed again in 2024, because of the civil war that had taken place again, they couldn’t perform as usual in all over Myanmar and earned very little income. Unexpectedly, Abai suffered from a cerebral hemorrhage and passed away. Although they have to perform in the middle part of Myanmar at the end of this rainy season, if they travel to outside of Yangon, they must go through all the military check points along the way because of the civil war. The military arrest any man if they find any suspicion. Even though they are gays, they are still men. So they might be taken for the new recruitment of soldiers because of the military compulsory law. Although they can’t perform in all over Myanmar because of the civil war, if they don’t perform, they won’t make any money for their basic needs. That’s why Mommy Soe has to keep doing the performances. Because of the political unrest, the Thunder Bird troupe has split up and again reunited and performed. This is becoming like a repetitive cycle. I am interested in to see will Mommy Soe be able to keep the Thunder Bird troupe, which has established for 50 years, in the long term or not because Abai who was the leading person in the front passed away and the traveling and performing in the rural areas is not an option because of the civil war.
