Imphal film fest to focus on Meetei civilization
Source: The Sangai Express / Courtesy nelive

Imphal, February 22 2016: The 2016 edition of Imphal International Short Film Festival(IISFF) to be held in March will focus on Meetei community and culture.

IISFF will be organizing a special trip in and around Imphal which reflects the glimpses of the rich civilization which exists in the independent kingdom for 2000 years.

This is the first time that IISFF has planned such a special treat to meet the quest of the visitors about Manipur and its cultural history.

This is the fourth edition of IISFF.

The organizers are hoping that audience will increase this time.

The past editions of the festival hosted 1000-2000 visitors.

"We have a dual goal; to promote regional cinema.

And teach local talents about the trends of global cinema and how the art form changes with time," said Mohen Naorem, the Festival director.

"Currently we are based in Imphal only, but we have plans to change the format of the festival and host it in other North Eastern cities.

Due to law & order situation, the 2014 edition was postponed till late 2015.So, we have started taking steps to take it to other parts of the region.

Even this coming edition was also postponed by one month as there was indirect ban on screening films by several organizations" .

Bangladeshi film-maker Asharaf Shishir's "Gaariwala" will be the curtain raiser of the festival.

"Gaariwala" has won 24 international awards already.

"Telang-Gaa", a Meeteilon film, directed by a young woman filmmaker, Babina Chabungbam, will close the film festival.

The theme of this edition of festival is "promoting the unheard voice" .

Why "Gaariwala" is selected as the opening film ? .

"The countries of the South Asia like Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Bangladesh & India have the same socio-economic problems.

Culturally we are a same continent separated by political borders.

We chose Gaariwala, which has been screened in 80 countries as it reflects the people of North East and their struggle.

We encourage young directors of the region to make films and documentaries based on the political conflicts and crisis of the region," pointed out Naorem.

In the lap of Ganga .

"In the lap of Ganga", "The pain of a refugee", "Children of conflict", "Marriage Bazaar", "Seeking Valentine", "Mother" & "Universal immigrant" are some of the other films to be screened in the festival.

The Legend Studio and Action For Social Advancement (ASA), Manipur, an NGO operating in the region is the host company of the festival.

The organizers have selected 100 films from around 200 submissions.

Among those 100, 40 selected films will be screened in the two-day event.

Naorem also clarified that this edition is going to be unique as a number of films based on socio-political issues like transgender, women's issue in Harayana, Kashmir-conflict and other cultural issues will be screened.

The IISFF hasn't screened any Hindi films since its inception due to ban imposed by some local organization.

However it'll continue its tradition of promoting regional cinemas, the festival will have films made in Bengali, Tamil, Malayalam, Marathi, Kashmiri, Nepali, Meeteilon, Haryanvi and Telegu.

Countries like UK, USA, Germany, Spain, Russia, Japan, China, Bangladesh etc will also be participating in the festival.

"We have a 16-year-old Meeteilon director.

According to the organizers, all the directors are promising," revealed Naorem.

"In events like the IISFF, we come to know of the films which aren't commercialized, Gaariwala also reflects the natural beauty of rural Bangladesh and the communal harmony of the masses.

See, Bangladesh isn't a country of only fundamentalism and communal violence, there are beautiful minds too which are ignored in films aimed at winning foreign awards by projecting fundamentalism.

We shot the film in Pabna district.

I am looking forward to the Imphal festival," the international award winning director added.

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