Fruit Gathering, a delicate feature debut by Burmese writer-director Aung Phyoe, follows a young factory worker in Yangon who begins to fall for a female colleague, blending realist drama with poetic imagery. The Myanmar-Czechia-France co-production has just won the top prize at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, a notable achievement for a first-time filmmaker previously known only for shorts, and marks a rare Burmese-language exploration of lesbian desire on the international festival circuit.

The film centres on San Kyi, played by Nandar Myat Aung, who has moved from the countryside to Yangon with her mother and grandmother and works in a large clothing factory to avoid pressure to marry or pursue a more ambitious career. There she meets co-worker Theint Theint Oo (Nandar Myint Lwin), and the pair's friendship deepens into something more, set against a backdrop of gruelling factory conditions, labour organising and San Kyi's rural upbringing. Critics single out the film's hypnotic visual style and Nandar Myat Aung's performance, tipping it for further play at Asian and LGBTQ+-focused festivals and possible niche distribution.