IMPHAL, September 6: For the first time in the history of North East Cinema and Manipur in particular, the world premiere of a fiction feature film from Manipur ‘Loktak Lairembi’ (Lady of the Lake) will be held at the forthcoming 21st Busan International film festival in South Korea next month.
The 71-minute film of ace filmmaker Haobam Paban Kumar of Manipur who made the powerful political documentary AFSPA 1958, was based on a Manipuri short story ‘Nongmei’ (Gun) by Sudhir Naoroibam and it shows the life of a displaced fisherman in Loktak, the largest freshwater lake in NE, after authority burnt down many floating huts in the name of protecting serenity of the lake’s eco-system.
The film which is also selected along with two more Indian films for the competition section of the festival is likely to premiere worldwide on the third day of the festival which is scheduled to begin from October 6-15 at Busan, South Korea.
“I’m so happy to hear the good news because this is the first ever feature film in my film career. It took about five years to plan and shoot the film,” says five times National award winner Director Paban Paban Kumar.
“I sincerely believe in resumption of our cultural values that propagate an inclusive society imbued with love, trust and tolerance and my film symbolically delves into the fear psychosis that leads to mistrust and irresponsible conflicts.”
Last month, his 52-minute documentary ‘Phum-Shang’ (Floating Life) on the ongoing livelihood struggle of fishing community following a government regulation in same lake bagged the coveted best medium length film award in the recently concluded International Environmental Film and Video Festival held in the town of Goiás, Brazil (Aug 16 to 21).
It also won best investigative film at 62nd National film award 2014,best long documentary and short film festival of Kerala,2015, 1st Bala Kailsam Memorial award, Chennai 2015,Cinema of Resistance award at 9th SIGNS film festival Kerala,2015, Indian panorama at 46th International film festival Goa 2015,Royal Bengal Tiger for best documentary at 21st Kolkata International film festival 2015, Golden Conch for the best documentary (upto 60 minutes) at 14the Mumbai International Film Festival 2016.
Manipur, better known for producing world class sportspersons, and theatre legend, also plays a vital role in reel arena of the country.
The state which saw the first film-Matamgi Manipur in 1972 has been producing not less than 50-60 films a year, extremely low budget of course and hence giving more revenue to the film censor board of the country.
“Selection of a film from Manipur for the world premiere will not only get the attention of the international audience but it will also get the opportunity to showcase the rich culture of the region and of course the film market,” says former dean of Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute Kolkata Nilotpal Majumdar who is now appointed as the Director of Manipur State film and Television institute.
