Audience Response   "It is a very successful film. Thank you again for researching and showing the thousand-year-old Burmese culture. The way you have interwoven the daily lives of the Burmese people and the cult of the nat is fascinating and highly artistic." U Ye Myint, Burmese émigré, Berlin [back...]   "I saw your film "Friends in High Places" at the Berlin Film Festival and wanted to take this opportunity to express my enthusiasm for your work. I went to Myanmar twice last year and was above all deeply impressed by the people I met there. I believe that your film does justice to the average Burmese population who are obliged to live under a dictatorship but refuse to be browbeaten. I am often irritated by generalisations made about this country in the press – it is only really possible to form an opinion by going there. I spent my childhood and youth in the German Democratic Republic and I know from experience that it is indeed possible to lead a life that is somewhere in between imprisonment at the hands of the Stasi on the one hand and towing the party line on the other ..." Bernd Hermann, Berlin [back...]   "Your film is wonderful. The content, colours, music and cinematography are all perfect. I thank you most sincerely for showing me another side of life in Burma, namely that of the old mystic traditions. I also found the people of Burma and the jolly, almost capricious way they communicate with the nats quite fascinating. I can well believe that under the dictatorship people are drawn towards the world of the spirits and that Buddhism and the nat cult are both flourishing. I was particularly interested to discover that the cult of the nat, which is an animistic pursuit, appears to exist comfortably alongside Buddhism. You know, we Japanese are not particularly religious. Yet, deep inside, we still believe in our spirits – even if we refuse to admit it. We've so many spirits – old and new. If truth be known, they're to be found all over the world. Fantastic!" Keiko Ye Myint, University Lecturer in Japanese, Berlin [back...]   "I showed the film to three Burmese research students and to my Burmese wife. They were all highly enthusiastic – because of the way the film shows ordinary life in Burma. This authentic picture of Burma, coupled with the film's marvellous protagonists, is one reason why "Friends in High Places" is so charming. The other is the fact that this film is anything but propaganda. It is one of the few documentaries on Burma that I can show my friends with a clear conscience." Heiko Schäfer, Berlin [back...]   "I thought your film was excellent. At first I was worried that the Nat cult would come across as so alien to us that we could only perceive it as something exotic. However, partly as a result of your 'authenticity' as an Anglo-Burmese filmmaker, your achievement is to allow the Burmese to do the talking. This enables the viewer to identify with the protagonists and their stories and, in turn, gives one the opportunity to discover oneself in something which is only ostensibly bizarre or 'other'. By searching for oneself in the film it is possible to create wonderful spaces in which the rhythm and pacing of the film's narrative structure can unfold and work its particular magic on the viewer." Iris Wagner, Berlin [back...]