Academy Award Nominated Documentary Burma VJ Screening at Nazareth, March 4

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ROCHESTER, NY (02/17/2010)(readMedia)-- Nazareth College is proud to host a group of Burmese monks who will be on campus for the Rochester premiere of the Academy Award-nominated documentary Burma VJ, on March 4, just three days before the Oscars. The film shows a rare inside look into the 2007 uprising in Myanmar through the cameras of the independent journalist group, Democratic Voice of Burma. The free screening takes place at the Nazareth College Arts Center, A14 (ground level of the Arts Center) from 6:30 – 9 p.m. The monks coming to Nazareth are from the All Burma Monks' Alliance and were featured in the documentary. They will host a Q&A session after the screening at Nazareth, along with a presentation on the Saffron Revolution of 2007. Nazareth College is located at 4245 East Avenue, Rochester, N.Y., 14618. For more information, call Nazareth's Dr. Brian Bailey at (585) 389-2764.

Since the Saffron Revolution, about 40 Burmese Buddhist monks who led and participated in peaceful prayers and protests against the military regime escaped from Burma and arrived in the United States. They are part of the All Burma Monks' Alliance. Out of the forty, because of the difficulties in finding benefactors and supporters for their monk-hood, only seven have been able to remain on as monks in this country.

BurmaVJ is directed by acclaimed filmmaker, Anders Østergaard, and he brings us close to the video journalists who deliver the footage. Though risking torture and life in jail, courageous young citizens of Burma live the essence of journalism as they insist on keeping up the flow of news from their closed country. Armed with small handycams the Burma VJs smuggled news out of the country and broadcast back into Burma via satellite and offered as free usage for international media.

The whole world has witnessed single event clips made by the VJs, but for the very first time, their individual images have been carefully put together and at once, they tell a much bigger story. The film offers a unique insight into high-risk journalism and dissidence in a police state, while at the same time providing a thorough documentation of the historical and dramatic days of September 2007, when the Buddhist monks started marching.

The Rochester premiere screening of BurmaVJ is sponsored by the Nazareth Refugee Advisory Board, the Center for Spirituality, and the School of Education.

Founded in 1924, Nazareth College is a coeducational college with undergraduate and graduate studies in the liberal arts and sciences and professional programs in health and human services, education, and management. The College is located on 150 scenic acres near Rochester, New York, and currently enrolls approximately 2,000 undergraduate and 1,000 graduate students. Nazareth has a strong commitment to experience-based learning and civic engagement. In the past decade, Nazareth has produced 18 Fulbright recipients and two Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowships. For more information on the College, visit www.naz.edu.