The Clinic
Synopsis
In a clinic in Yangon, most of the patients have mental disorders, including insomnia and auditory hallucination. Furthermore, some of them have drinking problems and must quit alcohol. The two doctors who run the clinic are a couple who are also artists. They not only use medicine to calm their patients down but teach them arts, allowing the patients to vent their hallucination and madness through artistic creation.
Burma is like a giant psychiatric hospital and everyone in the country has mental problems to a certain degree. The husband, who is a physician, wants to make a film that reflects this situation but has been hesitating, fearing the consequences. While the wife, who is a psychiatrist, treats her patients, she herself also needs to be treated.
The Clinic is a mixture of documentary and feature film. There is a film within the film and a documentary within the documentary. The drama stems from the reality and the reality is packed with drama.
Director Statement
This is a country where the civil war has not only been going on for seven decades but continues till today. This is a poor society in which the basic needs of thirty million people are never met. If we apply a broader definition of “psychiatric disorders” to the population, more than half of them have mental or psychological problems. But this film is not about “psychiatric patients” nor “psychiatric clinics.” It tries to testify and document the chaotic phase the country is going through. Most people try to make themselves sleep better; having lost their freedom in this crazy and cruel life, they struggle to carry on with the help of the injections that help them sleep.
Festivals & Awards
2024 TIDF - Grand Prize in TIDF Visionary Award, Nominated for Taiwan Competition
2023 IDFA - International Competition
2023 Golden Horse Awards - Best Documentary Nomination
Team
- Director
Gallery
