Opening Film For Sheffield Fest Announced

Organisers of the Sheffield Doc/Fest have revealed that the 2009 festival will open on November 4 with the world premiere of Moving To Mars: A Million Miles From Burma, a feature-length documentary by UK director Mat Whitecross (The Road to Guantanamo) produced by Karen Katz for London-based Coded Pictures.

Moving To Mars, follows two refugee families from Burma over the course of a year that will change their lives completely. Forced from their homeland by the repressive military junta, the families, who are from Burma's Karen community, have lived in Mae La Camp, a Thai refugee camp, for almost twenty years. A UN relocation scheme offers them the change of a new life, but their new home, in Sheffield, will be different to everything they've ever known.

With intimate access, Mat Whitecross' feature-length documentary depicts their moving and sometimes humorous struggles with 21st century Britain. Their stories give a unique insight into the experiences of displaced people in the UK, whilst showing the human consequences of Burma's political climate.

Heather Croall, Doc/Fest Festival Director, said: "The synergy between the city of Sheffield, Sheffield Doc/Fest and Moving To Mars is exceptional. The people of Sheffield have a long history of welcoming displaced people and at a time when Burma is again hitting the headlines it is especially fitting to be opening Doc/Fest with the world premiere of Mat's Moving To Mars.

According to the City of Sanctuary figures, since 2005, Sheffield has welcomed around 250 Burmese refugees, most of them from the Karen community, an ethnic group particularly persecuted by the ruling junta. Sheffield was the first gateway city in the UK to welcome Burmese refugees.

Director Mat Whitecross said: "For Moving To Mars to be chosen as the opening night film at this year's Sheffield Doc/Fest is a real honour. I am looking forward to introducing this powerful and moving human story to audiences in the city that offers hope to the most vulnerable.

Producer Karen Katz continued: "Coded Pictures is thrilled to be opening the Sheffield Doc/Fest with Moving To Mars, as the city of Sheffield is where the two families from Burma have found sanctuary in the UK."

(KMcA/BMcc)