The IDFA 2026 opener is an impressive, unapologetically partisan observation of a jungle training camp for new recruits of a People’s Defence Force civilian militia, preparing to fight for the restoration of Myanmar’s democracy.
The recruits don’t know what’s coming. They are eager and motivated, but also anxious about the impact of the experiences ahead. And as an opening film, IDFA could hardly have picked a more fitting documentary.
I don’t mean to be glib: the fate of the new recruits to Myanmar’s civilian militia, being trained in the jungle to fight against the military dictatorship which has ruled the country since the coup of 1 February 2021, is of a completely different order than the nervous anticipation of a festival audience.
But by focussing on these recruits’ training period, and not showing their actual deployment on the battlefield until the very last minutes, Canadian directors Robert Mentov, Dwight Jantzi and Bryan Dickie have created what could almost literally be called an ‘opening’ film – a film focussing on the prelude, the preparations, the calm before the storm.
Which also makes White Tiger Column a prime example of how the documentary approach can complement news reportage. It’s so far removed from conventional war reporting that, as the IDFA website describes it, “you might think this was a youth summer camp.” This is partly because its observational approach remains silent on the complex internal politics of Myanmar, with a civil war flaring up intermittently since 1948 and more than a dozen interdependent, predominantly ethnically based militias fighting the dictatorship alongside each other.
A third reason why White Tiger Column makes for a strong opener, is by turning our attention to an underreported conflict zone. It’s a painful truth, but a truth nonetheless, that with Palestine and Ukraine commanding most of the Western media’s attention, Myanmar’s ongoing struggle for democracy rarely takes centre stage.
Which means we know next to nothing about those doing the fighting. The new recruits to the White Tiger Column – a militia that forms part of the People’s Defence Force militia, the armed wing of the internationally unrecognised National Unity Government-in-exile – are young, sometimes very young. One of them claims to be 17 when he enrols, although the administrator seems sceptical. There is giggling (“What are you laughing about?!”, the drill instructor shouts), there is listening to music, there is singing around the campfire.
Although we sometimes hear distant explosions, the fires and the shouting in the training camp suggest there is apparently little fear of being discovered and attacked. But 45 days after their arrival, these recruits will be sent to the front lines. They are volunteers, as their instructors remind them, so they have no right to complain, neither about the toughness of their training nor about the quality of the food. They chose this themselves. And we do see them toughen up during this month and a half of rigorous military training. As one instructor explains: “Other uprisings in history have failed in the past. That’s because they built guerrilla armies instead of a military.”
But although they do indeed resemble a traditional army in terms of organisation, they have to make their own bombs by mixing chemicals in a wok and using tin cans and plastic bottles as containers. And testing their results by hitting the mixture with a hammer. It indicates a lack of funding and international support, which makes the future of these young recruits – who are being trained to take on a much larger and much more established army – look extremely dangerous.
Meanwhile, at the heart of the documentary, we get to listen in to their personal stories as they talk amongst themselves. Some seem more adventurous, others embittered. Some miss their families back home, others can’t wait to head out onto the battlefield. One new soldier tells his comrades about the time he was arrested by the dictatorship, how he was tortured, how his brother was killed, how he doesn’t know where the army took his mother. And how he now just wants to get out there and fight. A few scenes later, we see him outrunning everyone during training, until he collapses from exhaustion.
It should be noted that the filmmakers, who do not appear on screen and observe everything calmly and systematically, are clearly on the side of these soldiers. The documentary is named after the battalion and is ‘dedicated to the recruits of White Tiger column, People’s Defence Force, Myanmar’. Furthermore, its observational stance does not leave room for critical interviews or commentary. This bias suggests that in the editing of their material, the filmmakers may have avoided scenes that could cast their subject in a negative light.
But given that these young soldiers are training to fight a tyrannical military dictatorship and restore democracy, this partisan approach, whilst worth noting, would in this case seem quite justified.
Canada, 2026, 95 minutes
Director Robert Mentov, Dwight Jantzi, Bryan Dickie
Production Lightwood Green
Producers Tom Edgerton, Dwight Jantzi
International sales Lightwood Green
Script Alyse Ardell Spiegel
Cinematography Robert Mentov
Editing Alyse Ardell Spiegel, Karl Kai
Sound design Quinn Hoodless, Drew Lambeska
Music Dylann Miller
With Cookie, Thant, A Thay Lay, Siet Joe, M4, Thet Thwa, Black King, Swallow
