When asked to think of Myanmar, most people would probably picture Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Laureate who had led the country's opposition movement for the past three decades, much of it under house arrest. Some would also recall the many monks and demonstrators who defied the brutal military junta in their fight for political emancipation.
For Midi Zhao, however, Myanmar means much more than that. 'Aung San Suu Kyi could win her election in the polls in April, and she might eventually work together with the ruling party and take power,' says the Myanmese-Chinese director when we meet in the De Doelen cultural complex in central Rotterdam. 'Things seem to be changing. But people tend to overlook the fact that the Myanmese army is still battling Kachin rebels, for example.
'The political situation might have changed, but everything remains the same. So the country is becoming more open now - but that probably just means big companies can import more luxurious cars into the country. For the ordinary people, nothing has changed.'
That's a point Zhao - who goes by the artistic alias of Midi Z - is trying to put across with his first feature film. Making its European premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam last week, Return to Burma offers a representation of Myanmar which is vastly different from previous documentaries such as Burma DJ or the Suu Kyi biopic The Lady, which opens in Hong Kong this week.
Return to Burma tells the story of a young Myanmese-Chinese man (Wang Xing-hong, playing a version of himself) returning home after working for 12 years in Taiwan. Zhao shows ordinary people in Wang's hometown (in an area bordering the mainland) grappling with a volatile economy.
Zhao says he is dismayed by the lack of opportunities for the younger generation. In the film, every youngster wants to leave Myanmar.