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DR. BALA

DR. BALA (SHORT VERSION)

By Koby SHIMADA

KOBY PICTURES, INC. - as PROD

Documentary - Completed 2022

Dr. Bala, who has been doing volunteer work seven days a year for twelve years, brings expertise to the underdeveloped medical field in Southeast Asia.

Festivals
& Awards

WorldFest Houston International Film Festival 2022
Remi Winner (Documentary Feature)
Los Angeles Independent Film Festival Awards 2022
Best Director
Indian World Film Festival 2022
Best Documentary - Jury
Docs Without Borders Film Festival 2022
Original Score Award
International Cosmopolitan Film Festival of Tokyo 2022
Semi-Finalist for Best Documentary
Silicon Valley Asian Pcific Film Festival 2022
Nominated for Best Documentary
North Europe International Film Festival 2022
Nominated for Best Feature Documentary, Best Story, Best Director of a Feature Documentary, Best Editing of a Documentary, and Best Original Score
Courage Film Festival (Germany) 2022
Semi Finalist for Best Documentary
See all
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    • Year of production
    • 2022
    • Genres
    • Documentary
    • Countries
    • USA, MYANMAR, CAMBODIA, JAPAN, LAOS, NEPAL, THAILAND, KOREA (South)
    • Languages
    • ENGLISH, JAPANESE, KHMER, BURMESE
    • Budget
    • 0 - 0.3 M$
    • Duration
    • 59 mn
    • Director(s)
    • Koby SHIMADA
    • Writer(s)
    • Koby SHIMADA, Takuya KIMBARA
    • Producer(s)
    • Tadashi UMAZUME (TYO healthcare), Nobuko SAITO CLEARY
    • Synopsis
    • A Japanese doctor, Dr. Kazuhiro Omura (Dr. Bala) has been dedicated to help people in Southeast Asia for twelve years. His volunteering activity has been connecting people beyond international borders and the field of medicine and helping people lead a rewarding life.
      His way of volunteering is unique. He has spent his summer holidays in Southeast Asia, helping local doctors build skills and confidence to treat their own people, while working at a university hospital in Japan. On a week's visit every year he has strengthened medical cares and local doctors in Southeast Asia.

      "Bala" means "Powerful" in Burmese.

      Dr. Omura got the nickname "Bala" when he stayed and did volunteering in Myanmar in 2007.
      He has a lot of power to change people, and not just his patients.

      Dr. Bala has achieved international cooperation by treating patients. However, as he was seeing a lot of problems in each of the countries and regions he visited, he realized that educating local doctors to guide them to be able to provide appropriate treatment by themselves is more important than doing the operations himself. Throughout this documentary, viewers will learn not only the problems of poverty, discrimination, and lack of education in Southeast Asia, but also the historical and political background of each country. Examples include the military regime making cyclone damage worse in Myanmar and the Pol Pot massacre slowing medical development in Cambodia. As a result, people in these places have become distrustful of their own medical systems.

      After the Covid-19 pandemic was declared, Dr. Bala was not able to visit those countries. However, local doctors who were taught by Dr. Bala keep performing the surgeries. Dr. Bala’s work is definitely different from mere financial assistance or medical volunteers who treat the patients by themselves. More doctors, nurses and medical students have joined his volunteer activity and support him year by year. Local doctors who had lost their credibility from public gradually regained their confidence. Dr. Bala’s medical influence in the countries is enormous.

      This documentary film is a story of a dedicated ENT doctor, but it can be a story of anybody who want to make a difference in the world.

      Dr. Bala says that "international medical volunteering is my hobby."

      If you keep focusing on what you are passionate about or you are good at for one week every year, it may make someone's life happier. And also it can make your life meaningful through the activity. We hope that the audience get a chance to look back on their own lives and realize what viewers can do to change the world.
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