Midwives is a 2022 Burmese documentary film directed by Hnin Ei Hlaing, exploring the relationship between a Buddhist Bamar midwife and her Muslim Rohingya apprentice in a village in Rakhine State in western Myanmar.
Nyo Nyo, who initially considers leaving her husband and moving to Yangon to formally study midwifery, falls pregnant with her third child and ultimately decides to remain in Rakhine State, where she goes on to set up her own maternity clinic with the support of a local Muslim women's microloan club and her husband.
Hnin Eli Hlaing was born in Rakhine State but subsequently moved to Berlin, and said she was inspired to make a film about the Buddhist and Rohingya communities there after being shocked to hear of the conflict between them following the relative peace of her childhood.
In an interview with NPR, she explained that measures including financial support and a route out of the country had been prepared should the film be leaked in Myanmar.
[4] Time Out similarly rated the film four stars, calling it "a stirring, incisive doc about a Buddhist and a Muslim defying Myanmar's bitter ethnic divisions".