In Myanmar, one of the world's most isolated countries, three young German filmmakers have managed to portray the story of one man's unlikely dream of building a helicopter.
Just weeks before Prime Minister Khin Nyunt was dismissed for corruption in a power struggle among the ruling junta in September, the three Germans entered the country on tourist visas and headed north towards the Chinese border and the village of Bhamo.
Film of Myanmar is scarce and visitors are closely monitored.
Yet Christian Kage, 29, Benja Sachau, 28, and Philipp Fuchs, 27, were able to film for several days in August as they followed the progress of Sein Win, an eccentric 63-year-old tour guide who has been nurturing an unlikely dream for the past three decades.
"I imagine every day and every hour how to fly," Sein Win says in English in the film.
"James Bond inspired me. My inspiration came from The Man With the Golden Gun."
Against all the odds in a country wracked by shortages, Sein Win has built a helicopter -- or something closely resembling it.
The frame is made from water pipes, the "pilot" sits on a seat adapted from a bicycle and Sein Win has crafted the rotor blades from teak wood, each weighing 40kg.
"Normally helicopters are made of aluminum and fiberglass, but I cannot get that here," he says, sitting on his craft.
"I have a friend who was in the airforce. He knows a little bit about helicopters, not very much, but he helped me with the engine," he explains.
The 15-horsepower engine drives the heavy wooden blades with a belt -- but they rotate far too slowly to allow the helicopter to leave the ground.
"I have tried it three times in an airfield but it cannot lift off," Sein Win says. "It needs a 30-horsepower engine but that would cost US$3,000 here."
The military allowed him to use the airfield, which suggests that the hardline regime tolerates Sein Win's attempts to build his flying machine.
Although he does not say he has any intention of leaving Myanmar permanently, he is burning with curiosity about the world outside.
"I want to see how people live in different countries, how they build big machines, cars and airplanes," he says.
"Nobody can prevent me from going into the air. I can fly free in the air."
Benja Sachau, who like his two colleagues is from Berlin, had met Sein Win by chance when he was travelling in Myanmar in 2002.
They stayed in touch by letter and two years later Sein Win agreed to let the Germans film him.
Christian Kage says the trio had expected to be closely monitored by the authorities, but when it came, the approach was from a harmless elderly man purporting to work for the information ministry.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of