In “Fruit Gathering,” director and writer Aung Phyoe consciously avoided exploring the “social” impact of the relationship between two suppressed women, creating a sense of alienation but also deep intimacy.
The film, which is premiering at the Karlovy Vary festival as part of the Crystal Globe competition and is co-produced by Myanmar, Czech Republic and France, is set in contemporary Myanmar and follows the friendship and connection that forms between two young women, San Kyi and Theint Theint Oo, working at a textile factory in Yangon over the course of a year and a half.
Phyoe, who marks his directorial debut with “Fruit Gathering,” grew up reading more literature and later discovered arthouse cinema outside of his country. When he started writing the script (chosen to develop in 2020 through Locarno’s Open Doors co-production platform) he was drawn to looking into the “affection or kindness of others” outside of one’s family.
“Which somehow feels precious, but at the same time is very conditional,” Phyoe says of the film based around the social class he grew up in around Myanmar. “In the world everything is changing and nothing is consistent, such kind of a relationship will never last. I know those feelings through my life and my upbringing.”
