Song of Souls

Shan State is home to a rich culture filled with ancient songs, traditional dances, and beliefs. It is also a place where civil war has been raging for over 60 years. Shan folk singer was a star when she was young. Now that she is older, her metaphorical verses reflect the deep sense of loss that pervades a people battered by Myanmar’s ruinous politics. Interweaving her songs with compelling scenes of rituals around healing, death, and birth, the film transcends the purely observational to become a multilayered, elliptical exploration of decay and impermanence that is both moving and totally mesmerising.