Private Project

Being Ohnmar

After the 2021 military coup in Myanmar, 34-year-old Ohnmar plans to leave the country with her fiancé. However, her plans are complicated by the difficult decision to place her sick mother in a nursing home. Struggling to talk openly with her mother, every conversation leaves Ohnmar overwhelmed with guilt and unresolved emotions. When her mother discovers her intentions, Ohnmar must make a choice between her personal escape and family responsibility.

  • Sai - Nyan Linn Sett
    Director
    Way Back Home (2020)
  • Su - Yee Moe
    Writer
  • Aye Chick Su
    Producer
    Once Upon A Time There Was A Mom (2023)
  • May Myanmar
    Key Cast
    "Ohnmar"
  • Than Than Win
    Key Cast
  • Yu Nhaung
    Key Cast
  • Ku Ki
    Director Of Photography
    Once Upon A Time There Was A Mom, Grandpa,
  • Kaung Myat Thu Kyaw
    Director Of Photography
    Mouth Of The Sea, Pennywort Beer
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    19 minutes 38 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    October 30, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    3,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Myanmar
  • Country of Filming:
    Myanmar
  • Language:
    Other
  • Shooting Format:
    ArriAlexa Mini,AVCHD H.264 4:2:0
  • Aspect Ratio:
    4:3
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Sai - Nyan Linn Sett

Sai Nyan Linn Sett is a scriptwriter and director from Myanmar, now based in Västerås, Sweden. Since beginning his filmmaking journey in 2017, his works explore repressed human emotions, reflecting Burmese society. Through storytelling and film, he portrays personal and ordinary lives shaped by Myanmar's social and political struggles.

Sai developed his skills through well-known training programs in Myanmar, including the Wathann Film Festival's Screenwriting Workshop (2018), Cineport Script Warp (2019), and AUNG Kinoclinic Script Class (2020). He is also an alumnus of the ASEAN-ROK FLY program (2019) by the Busan Asian Film School. His most acclaimed work, Myanmar Diaries (2022), created as part of the anonymous Myanmar Film Collective, earned international acclaim, winning Best Documentary at the Berlin International Film Festival. His earlier short films, Father and Daughter (2017) and Way Back Home (2020), also received recognition at Myanmar Youth Micro Film Contest and Wathann Film Festival, respectively.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

I left my hometown at 17, right after high school. Since then, I’ve lived away from my family for over a decade. When my dad passed away, I wasn’t there to say goodbye. That loss has stayed with me, and now, every time my phone rings with a call from home, my heart sinks. I brace myself, terrified it might bring bad news about my mother. Still, I tell myself, “At least we’re in the same country.”

But then the coup happened. Life turned upside down, and my friends began leaving Myanmar, chasing safer, better futures. I wanted to follow, but how could I abandon my mother in the chaos? She’s all I have left. Even for those who leave, I know there are invisible strings tying them to their families—strings that tug harder with each passing day, tangled with guilt and sorrow.

When I first read this story, it felt like my mother’s voice calling my name. That voice made my life a choice. I see myself in Ohnmar, torn between the yearning to escape and the pull of family bonds. Aren’t we all Ohnmar at some point in our lives?

With this story, I wanted to bring Ohnmar’s struggle to life—a woman caught between personal freedom and family loyalty. I made this film for all the Ohnmars out there, to share our collective pain, guilt, and love as Burmese people in exile. I am Ohnmar. We all are.