This March, Film Movement Plus turns its focus toward one of contemporary cinema’s most quietly powerful collaborations, honoring director Midi Z and longtime creative partner Ke-Xi Wu with a curated streaming spotlight featuring five of their most acclaimed films: Poor Folk, Silent Asylum, Ice Poison, Road to Mandalay, and Nina Wu. Known for blending fiction with lived experience, Midi Z’s filmmaking explores migration, identity, and survival across the borders of Myanmar, China, and Thailand, while Wu’s emotionally transparent performances ground these stories with striking human intimacy. Together, their work has consistently illuminated lives often overlooked by mainstream cinema, creating films that resist sentimentality while confronting exploitation and displacement with honesty and restraint.
Stories Shaped by Borders and Survival
The spotlight begins with Poor Folk, a tragicomic drama set along the Myanmar–Thailand border where survival is negotiated through fragile alliances and difficult choices. The story follows a young man searching for his trafficked sister, leading him into Bangkok’s criminal underworld and toward a woman caught between smugglers and uncertain hope. Alongside it, the hybrid short Silent Asylum, co-directed with Joana Preiss, blurs documentary and fiction to capture Burmese refugees living in an abandoned Taipei building, reflecting on displacement and the uneasy ethics of storytelling itself. Together, these films establish the emotional terrain that defines Midi Z’s cinema — stories rooted in migration, uncertainty, and the search for belonging.
A Broader Global Lineup for March
Beyond the featured collaboration, Film Movement Plus presents a wide-ranging March lineup that travels across generations and cinematic traditions. Highlights include Andrzej Wajda’s final film Afterimage, returning to streaming in recognition of the legendary Polish director’s centenary. The powerful biographical drama portrays avant-garde painter Władysław Strzemiński’s resistance against political repression, standing as a lasting testament to artistic freedom. The month also showcases a trio of uncompromising French films, from Bruno Dumont’s starkly spiritual Outside Satan to Rebecca Zlotowski’s intimate debut Dear Prudence and Patrice Chéreau’s deeply personal drama His Brother, each exploring themes of faith, grief, and emotional connection through distinctive cinematic voices.
Cinema Reflecting Contemporary Social Realities
Timed to International Women’s Day, the FM+ exclusive documentary Stray Bodies offers a clear-eyed look at reproductive rights and bodily autonomy across Europe. Following women forced to travel across borders for healthcare decisions shaped by restrictive laws, the film highlights how geography continues to influence personal freedom. The March slate continues with Ice Poison, a stark portrait of survival in contemporary Myanmar, and Road to Mandalay, a critically acclaimed migration drama tracing the fragile hopes of Burmese immigrants navigating life in Thailand. Each title reinforces Film Movement Plus’s commitment to films that engage with urgent social realities while maintaining deeply personal storytelling.
Performance, Identity, and the Cost of Ambition
Closing the Midi Z and Ke-Xi Wu spotlight is Nina Wu, a stylized psychological drama inspired by Wu’s own experiences within the entertainment industry. Following an actress whose long-awaited breakthrough becomes psychologically destabilizing, the film examines power, exploitation, and memory within creative spaces. Premiering at Cannes in the Un Certain Regard section, the film stands as one of the duo’s most internationally recognized collaborations, merging genre elements with emotional introspection.
Expanding the World of Global Cinema at Home
Expanding the World of Global Cinema at HomeAdditional highlights include Takashi Ono’s uplifting drama I Am Baseball, a story of reinvention through sport, and the return of Chéreau’s His Brother, a poignant meditation on illness and reconciliation that earned the Silver Bear for Best Director at the Berlin International Film Festival. Together, the March programming reflects Film Movement Plus’s broader mission: to connect audiences with provocative, award-winning cinema from around the world that might otherwise remain difficult to access.
A Platform Dedicated to Discovery
Available across major streaming platforms including Prime Video Channels, Roku, Apple TV, and mobile devices, Film Movement Plus continues to build a library dedicated to festival favorites, global auteurs, and essential classics. With new films added weekly, the service invites viewers to explore stories that challenge perspectives and expand cultural understanding. This month’s spotlight on Midi Z and Ke-Xi Wu serves as a reminder of how sustained artistic collaboration can shape a cinematic voice — one that resonates not through spectacle, but through empathy, realism, and the quiet power of human experience.
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