Tiakumzuk Aier (4th from left) with the film crew during a
press conference on Thursday.
DIMAPUR — The
much anticipated film ‘Yong’ presented by Aoyimti Baptist Church Youth Ministry
(ABCYM) was finally premiered at Ao Baptist Church, Aoyimti Dimapur on
Thursday.
‘Yong’, derived from Ao dialect, refers to bamboo ropes
traditionally used by the Nagas as an alternative to conventional ropes,
particularly in villages.
Yong, symbolises the feeling of being tied down, resonating
deeply with the theme of the story which is about drug addiction.
During a press conference held at Ao Baptist Church, the
director of the film, Tiakumzuk Aier, shared that the film has a runtime of one
hour and 47 minutes, where most of the scenes were shot at Yimchalu village,
located in Mokokchung district, with a small portion filmed near Dzuleke in
Kohima.
Furthermore, he revealed that the shooting in Mokokchung
took nearly 25 days during August 2024. He also announced that the movie will
be available on Bingeboxx OTT platform from January 9 (7 pm) onwards.
Aier explained that releasing the movie on major OTT
platforms like Amazon or Netflix was not feasible due to the stringent criteria
requirement and the limited budget of their film. Hence, they chose Bingeboxx,
a locally-owned platform, as the best option for their release.
The director of the movie shared that one of the most
impactful scenes in the film is a confrontation between the main lead,
Tiasunep, and actor Yanger. This scene was captured in a single take without
any retakes, and its authenticity and natural flow left him highly satisfied
with the outcome.
Aier added that one of the major challenges faced during the
filming process was the decision to use live sound captured during the shoot
without resorting to dubbing, however this plan was disrupted by the constant
noise of cicadas, as a result they had to dub certain portions of the film.
He also expressed his intention to venture into commercial
filmmaking, noting that the availability of OTT platforms like Bingeboxx has
made it easier to release movies compared to earlier years and mentioned that
apart from church-related work, he also plans to produce more this year, with
support from the Bingeboxx platform.
When asked about the revenue generation of the web series
“Families Diaries” on the Bingeboxx platform, he explained that the series was produced
by Bingeboxx, which had invested a significant amount in its production, while
they are in the process of recovering the costs; he acknowledged that it will
take time, as the concept is still new to the audience.
However, he informed that Dreamz Unlimited is the content
creator and will continue to produce content for their channel and as for films
and series, the decision on where to distribute them depends on the producers
where they want to sell their product.
Tiasunep Longkumer, the lead actor in the movie, shared that
it was a great experience for him and added that while the work he does for
their YouTube channel can be larger-than-life or even exaggerated but for this
film, he had to prepare in a way that the performance felt natural, in contrast
to the style of content he creates for the channel.
Ariensa Longchar, popularly known as ‘Kolar Baba’ from
Dreamz Unlimited mentioned that his character is completely different from the
roles he typically portrays in his earlier work and believes this will be a
surprising and unexpected character for the viewers, while Ayusang Jamir plays
as the lead actress.
There have been some concerns from the public about the
movie being released exclusively on an OTT platform, particularly given its
connection to the Youth Ministry, in response to this query, the Film Committee
Convenor, Chubatemjen, explained that their primary goal is to reach out to
people with a meaningful message.
However, he added that in order to move forward with future
projects, they need financial resources and the project is not money-driven, as
the funds generated from this film will be reinvested into creating new
projects.
Imtisunep Ozukum, Associate Youth Pastor of Aoyimti Baptist
Church Youth Ministry, mentioned that in Nagaland, Aoyimti Youth Ministry is
the only church with a movie project and added that for their films project,
they do not seek any donations or offerings, instead the project is sustained
through the revenue generated from the movie production.
