TURA, SEPT 7: Tura is all set to host regional off beat films produced by best known directors of north east at the Tura film festival. The films will be screened at district auditorium Tura on September 12 – 13.
The Tura film festival, a first of its kind to be held in Meghalaya’s Garo hills- will showcase “Songs of the blue hills”, directed by national award winning film critic and filmmaker Utpal Borpujari. It features music and conversations with musicians from Nagaland vis-a-vis displays of the rich tapestry of the various Naga tribes.
“It is an irony that exposure to local, regional and off beat films remains negligible. The festival is an attempt to bring to fore films, so that stories get told and heard”, said Kimde R. Marak, assistant curator, district museum, West Garo Hills, who conceptualized this noble initiative.
Marak told reporters “This would be the first time that directors and film makers from Garo hills would also get an opportunity to interact with other film makers of the Northeast. This will enable dialogue between directors and also between audience, which would lead to a meaningful engagement, which would further and encourage film making”.
“This festival would allow the residents of Tura town to come and watch films in a new way”, Marak added.
The organizers are gearing up to ensure that the festival would engage and open up people to listen to stories.
The film festival is an initiative of Spring Hills Youth Club and Upper Chandmary Club, which is being organised in collaboration with district administration, National Film Development Corporation and Arts and Culture department, Government of Meghalaya.
The fest will kick start with the screening of film titled Rong’kuchak, which means echoes, directed by Dominic Sangma. The film is about a Garo poet, Ianche, who tries to understand what it feels to be a poet without a written language.
The 30 minute film depicts the struggle of Ianche, who is on a mission to revive the rich culture of the Garos. The Garos have their own language but no script to write and hence they have been using the English alphabet for centuries now.
Rong’kuchak will take the audience on a journey with Inache, an accomplished poet, who feels tormented and unable and unwilling to write anymore. He can see his people completely abandoning their rich culture and he believes that the only way to save himself and them is to author a script.
The film got an award at the National Students Film Awards, 2014. Dominic is a fresh graduate from Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute. His films have been screened and competed in national and International Film Festival. He has made many short films and documentaries and is presently working with National Film Development Corporation as Director and Screenplay Writer.
It was also screened at the Brahmaputra Valley Film Festival 2014 at Guwahati, 42nd International Film Festival of India, Goa, 17th Kolkata Film Festival and at International Student Film and Video Festival Beijing 2014.
Another major attraction of the festival will be – “Where the clouds end”, directed by Wanphrang K. Diengdoh, an independent film maker based in Shillong and Delhi. The 52-minute film centres on partition of India – Bangladesh, which led to migration of foreigners to Shillong creating unrest.
It portrays how people, who had previously moved freely in the Khasi hills began to be seen as an unwelcome influx, threatening the land and purity of the Khasi race.
‘Where the Clouds End’ documents the Khasis’ struggle to claim an authentic ethnicity, racial purity and right to land. It challenges stereotypical notions portrayed by the media of the unwanted ‘outsider’ who threatens traditions, social structures and moral values.
The film has been screened in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and at the World Urban Forum in Medellin, Colombia, Cambrdige University, UK and is scheduled for more screenings in the country and abroad in the coming months
Other films that are slated to be screened are – My Grandpa’s Home by Alexander Pou, Bamboo Shoots by Steven Ao, Height from a distant by Tengnang D Sangma, Television by Mostafa Sarwar Farooki, Crossing bridges by Sanje Dorjee and Katiyabaaz (powerless) by Deepti Kakkar and Fahad Mustafa.- From Our Correspondent
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