'Nine Hills One Valley' to world premiere at Indonesia event
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, November 20 2021: National award winning filmmaker Haobam Paban Kumar's second narrative feature in Manipuri and Tangkhul language 'Nine Hills One Valley' will world premiere at the Jogja-NET-PAC Asian Film Festival 2021 in Indonesia.

The film, among 17 Asian films selected, will be screened in 16th Asia Perspectives, an eight-day festival beginning from November 27.Other films that would be premiered are Oscar winner Asghar Farhadi's A Hero (Iran), Ryusuke Hamaguchi's two films Drive My Car and Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (Japan), Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Memoria (Thailand), Anocha Suwicha-kompong's Come Here (Thailand) , Lamin Oo's Three Stages (Myanmar), Arfan Sabran's Bara (Indonesia), Da Fei's The Coffin Painter (China), Wen Shipei's Are You Lonesome Tonight? (China), Supriya Suri's Aruna Vasudev- Mother of Asian Cinema (India), Andrew Campbell's Mara-pu, Fire & Ritual (Indonesia) Khairi Anwar's Mentega Terbang (Malaysia), Jacky Yeap's Sometime Sometime (Malaysia), Hong Sang-oo's In Front of Your Face (South Korea), Tan Bee Thiam's Tiong Bahru Social Club (Singapore) and Abdullah Mohammad Saad's Rehana Maryam Noor (Bangladesh/Singapore).

'Nine Hills One Valley' is about Anam Ahum, a Tangkhul Naga from the hills, who travels to Imphal city in the valley in order to meet his daughter before she leaves for New Delhi in search of a job.

During the course of the journey, he encounters different people and their stories, making us witness to the brutishness of ethnic conflicts.

About the film, Paban Kumar said, "The desire for ethnic supremacy and emergence of politics of identity had put the people to an un-ceasing violence, amplifying further mistrust and animosity amongst its population.

Yet, in the face of distressed memories, hope thrives.

My film is a testimony of the brutishness of ethnic clash heard from the victims".

Anam Ahum is the main protagonist of the 75-minute film produced by Warepam Jhansirani and Haobam Paban Kumar for Oli Pictures.

National Film Awardee Irom Maipak and Ranjan Palit are cameramen.

Sound is done by Sukanta Majumdar and editing by Sankha and Story, screenplay and direction by Haobam Paban Kumar.

Paban Kumar is a prominent voice emitting out of the restive north eastern state of Manipur, dabbling in both non-fiction and fiction storytelling.

Immediately after graduating from Satyajit Roy Film and Television Institute, Kolkata in Direction and Screenwriting, he burst onto the documentary scenario with his hard hitting film, AFSPA 1958 .

Till date, Paban won four national film awards and his seven films were selected in Indian Panorama of International Film Festival of India.

Currently he is shooting his third narrative feature.

Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival (JAFF) is a premier Asian film festival in Indonesia focusing on the development of Asian cinema.

This festival not only contributes to introducing Asian cinema to a wider public in Indonesia, but it also provides a space for the intersection of many sectors such as art, culture, and tourism.

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