Former Foreign Secretaries William Hague, Malcolm Rifkind and Jack Straw today called for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi as The Independent released Cancelled: The Rise and Fall of Aung San Suu Kyi, a landmark new documentary on the career of the Myanmar leader.
Written and directed by The Independent’s Editor-in-Chief Geordie Greig, Cancelled features leading politicians, diplomats and civil rights campaigners, including Baroness Helena Kennedy and Lord Hague.
In the feature-length documentary, Greig takes an unbiased look at Suu Kyi’s rise to prominence and subsequent fall from grace. The film asks whether the recently accepted negative perception of Suu Kyi since she was forced out of office makes her an early case of cancel culture, despite her many years of fighting oppressive authorities and jail time in the name of democracy.
Ex-Foreign Secretary William Hague calls for the release of the former leader of Myanmar, aged 79, who faces a further 27 years under house arrest despite her declining health. In the documentary Lord Hague says Suu Kyi is a “political prisoner on trumped up charges” jailed because she was a “force for democracy.” Lord Hague also argues it is possible to be critical of the country’s former leader, who has been attacked for refusing to speak out against extreme violence against its Rohingya Muslim minority, “but also say we should be campaigning for her release”.
Contributors to the programme include:
Cancelled marks another significant investment in original programming for Independent TV, The Independent’s dedicated video platform. Since its launch in 2020, Independent TV is now produced across three continents under the leadership of Head of Multimedia, Al Brown. Last year, the platform hit the milestone of 100 million video views per month. Cancelled is its third long-form documentary, after Bel Trew’s award-winning film about Russian war crimes in Ukraine, The Body In The Woods and The A-Word, which tells the stories of women impacted by the changing abortion laws in the US.
Geordie Greig, The Independent’s Editor-in-Chief, said: “I hope that this documentary will help to raise awareness of the plight of Aung San Suu Kyi, who is at risk of being forgotten. The cancellation of Suu Kyi is a complex issue and we ask the viewer to make their mind up on it. What is certain is that she has never stopped fighting for democracy and freedom in her country and is the last beacon of hope there against a military dictatorship. The most prominent female political prisoner should not be in jail on trumped up charges.”
Al Brown, The Independent’s Head of Content, said: “In a media environment which is often obsessed with what’s new, this documentary gives viewers a chance to reflect upon whether the international community’s response to what happened in 2019 was justified. Through archive footage and interviews with those close to Aung San Suu Kyi and working in improving the lives of Myanmar’s people, Cancelled provides a potent reminder of how the world felt about Aung San Suu Kyi and her current plight.
This documentary is the latest example of Independent TV’s thought-provoking reporting and tackling of complex issues and we hope that audiences enjoy it.
