0 Orphaned children fend for themselves in Burma after Cyclone Nargis.

August 19th, 2009
Eyes of the Storm

On May 2, 2008, a Category 4 cyclone made landfall on Burma’s southern coast. Winds of 130 miles per hour raged all night, and storm surge drowned much of the Irrawaddy Delta in over 12 feet of water. Whole villages vanished, at least 130,000 people died, and two million were left homeless, making Cyclone Nargis the worst natural disaster in Burma’s history. Among the survivors were thousands of children orphaned or separated from their parents.

Eyes of the Storm tells the struggles of several orphaned children left to fend for themselves and rebuild their shattered lives in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis. Among others we meet 10-year-old Ye Pyint who is now surrogate father to his younger brother and sister; they live in a makeshift hut in what remains of their village. We follow Min, the 16-year-old who is the sole survivor from his family and is now trying to live as a monk in a Buddhist monastery miles away from his devastated home.

Through the eyes of the Burmese filmmaking team who shot undercover for over 10 months in defiance of the ruling junta’s media blackout, WIDE ANGLE provides a rare window into one of the world’s most secretive countries. The hour-long documentary also features American and British journalists who have reported from Burma and speak of its history and the hopes and fears for its future.