video transcript - Burma VJ The Saffron Premiere

Narrator:
This is my country and this is the way it has been for more than 40 years.

[shows video journalist filming protests in the street]

Our network is really small but millions of people are watching our footage. Military people are hunting any person with a camera but our people are still working. We have to smuggle our footage out of the country.

We want to fight for democracy.

Richard Gere, Gere Foundation:
Hello, I’m Richard Gere and I’m very, very happy to invite you all to 40 screenings all over Great Britain of a truly incredible, very, very moving and very important film. I saw this a few weeks ago and (pauses to think) I don’t think I’d be lying to say it just kind of blew me away.

[shows video images of monks and civilians marching and demonstrating]

The parallels with what we’ve seen in Iran are very clear. The ability of a very brutal government to control images can only be successful up to a certain point. This is an incredible document, a very important one.

[shows soldiers watching the crowds with guns poised. One civilian is shot and falls to the ground. People run and shout in panic]

Richard Gere:
It’s desperately important that you see this and get involved with the movement to help Burma right now. Thank you.

www.burmavjmovie.com