Scenes of Burmese civilian life in a large village in the Arakan region of Burma, five miles from Kindaunggyi, on the banks of the Tanlwe Chaung (river).

Burmese woman spinning local cotton on a wheel. Raw cotton is fed through a small mangle-like machine. A young Burmese woman working on a loom. A man works a rice grinder to dehusk rice. A woman sifts the ground rice to separate the grains from the husks. A young Burmese girl holding the cameraman's slate numberboard but not actually showing it to the camera. Portrait of the girl with close-up of her hairstyle, apparently denoting her virginity. Two Buddhist pongyi or priests in their robes with close-ups. A village street. A group of children by a wide chaung. A man with a machete splices bamboo. View of the Tanlwe Chaung. Group of children with an (apparently American) military observer. An old woman interlaces palm fronds for the walls of a hut. A group of villagers, and a group of young children. A toddler, who appears to be holding the lid of a film can, crying. A bullock drives a mill grinding oil from sesame seeds. A number of young children sit on the radial arm of the mill, as if it were a carousel, as it rotates. Smiling Burmese children swimming in the chaung.

Notes

A few days after this film was shot, Sergeant Bryan-Smyth was able to shoot an equally interesting film documenting the Burmese Water Festival in the Arakan. See related items.

Bryan-Smyth's dopesheet gives the population of the village as 2,000 people living in some 300 houses, and adds that in peacetime the village would normally trade with Taungup, but during the Japanese occupation had to become self-sufficient. Based on information on the dopesheet for JFU 201 this village may be Ywama.