Ma Aeint
{{Short description|Burmese film producer and writer}}
{{Burmese name|Ma}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Ma Aeint
| image = 300px
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| native_name = {{lang|my|မအိမ့်}}
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| occupation = {{hlist|Film producer|writer}}
| known_for = Writing and producing Money Has Four Legs
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Ma Aeint ({{langx|my|မအိမ့်}}) is a Burmese filmmaker and writer, best known for her 2020 film, Money Has Four Legs.{{Cite web |last=Frater |first=Patrick |date=2021-08-04 |title=Myanmar’s Maung Sun Attends Locarno, Ma Aeint Faces Jail (EXCLUSIVE) |url=https://variety.com/2021/film/asia/myanmar-locarno-maung-sun-ma-aeint-faces-jail-1235033592/ |access-date=2023-02-28 |website=Variety |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=2021-06-09 |title=Filmmaker Ma Aeint missing after arrest |url=https://www.bnionline.net/en/news/filmmaker-ma-aeint-missing-after-arrest |access-date=2023-02-28 |website=Burma News International |language=en}}
In the wake of the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, she was detained by the military junta on 5 June 2021 at Insein Prison, after becoming a target of the junta for her involvement in Money Has Four Legs.{{Cite web |date=2021-10-12 |title=Let’s go to the movies? Junta wants to reopen Myanmar’s cinemas |url=https://coconuts.co/yangon/news/lets-go-to-the-movies-junta-wants-to-reopen-myanmars-cinemas/ |access-date=2023-02-28 |website=Coconuts |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=2022-05-03 |title=PEN America Condemns Harsh Sentencing of Myanmar Filmmaker Ma Aeint, Sentenced to Three Years in Prison with Hard Labor on Baseless Charges |url=https://pen.org/press-release/pen-america-condemns-harsh-sentencing-of-myanmar-filmmaker-ma-aeint-sentenced-to-three-years-in-prison-with-hard-labor-on-baseless-charges/ |access-date=2023-02-28 |website=PEN America |language=en}} While in custody, her legs were reportedly broken by interrogation authorities.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2021-06-29 |title=ရုပ်ရှင်ဖန်တီးသူ မအိမ့် စစ်ကြောရေးတွင် ခြေချောင်းများ ကျိုးသည့်အထိ နှိပ်စက်ခံရဟု ဆို |url=https://burma.irrawaddy.com/news/2021/06/29/243587.html |access-date=2023-02-28 |website=ဧရာဝတီ |language=my}} In April 2022, she was sentenced under section 505A of Myanmar's Penal Code to 3 years of hard labour, after pleading not guilty. She was released from Tharyarwaddy Prison on 3 May 2023. {{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/burmese/articles/cy0vn5ppjl9o?fbclid=IwAR16qfdHK3sCb_cJnzcSItRqj9aWkHs_lfiE055jMixlhYRKwhT6JMiY_k4
|title=၅၀၅-က လွတ်ငြိမ်းခွင့် - ရုပ်ရှင်ဖန်တီးသူ မအိမ့် သာယာဝတီထောင်က ပြန်လွတ်မြောက်|work=BBC Burmese|access-date=13 Dec 2023 |date=3 May 2023| language=my}}
Her sentencing was condemned by PEN America and the international filmmaking community, including the International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk, the Directors Guild of Japan, eleven South Korean film festivals led by the Busan International Film Festival, and Southeast Asia Fiction Film Lab.{{Cite web |title=Japanese Directors' Guild calls for release of another Myanmar filmmaker Maung Thein Dan |url=https://www.thestar.com.my/aseanplus/aseanplus-news/2021/08/16/japanese-directors039-guild-calls-for-release-of-another-myanmar-filmmaker-maung-thein-dan |access-date=2023-02-28 |website=The Star |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2021-06-10 |title=Myanmar Filmmaker Ma Aeint’s Arrest Condemned by International Film Festival Community, Release of Detained Producer Urged |url=https://silverscreenindia.com/life/news/myanmar-filmmaker-ma-aeints-arrest-condemned-by-international-film-festival-community-release-of-detained-producer-urged/ |access-date=2023-02-28 |website=Silverscreen India |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Yonhap |date=2021-06-08 |title=S. Korea's 11 intl. film fests call for release of Myanmar filmmaker |url=https://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20210608000915 |access-date=2023-02-28 |website=The Korea Herald |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Frater |first=Patrick |date=2021-06-08 |title=Myanmar Filmmaker Ma Aeint Arrested and Detained by Military Regime |url=https://variety.com/2021/politics/asia/ma-aeint-myanmar-filmmaker-arrested-detained-1234991002/ |access-date=2023-02-28 |website=Variety |language=en-US}} In September 2022, actress Julianne Moore led a flash-mob protest at the 79th Venice International Film Festival, calling for the release of Ma Aeint and other imprisoned filmmakers.{{Cite web |date=2022-09-09 |title=Julianne Moore leads red carpet protest for jailed Iranian filmmaker |url=https://arab.news/jujq7 |access-date=2023-02-28 |website=Arab News |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Actress leads red carpet protest in Italy for jailed filmmakers including Myanmar’s Ma Aeint |url=https://mizzima.com/article/actress-leads-red-carpet-protest-italy-jailed-filmmakers-including-myanmars-ma-aeint |access-date=2023-02-28 |website=Mizzima Myanmar News and Insight |language=en}}