BNFF declared calendar event, RGU to fund every year

Altogether, the festival featured 19 filmmakers representing the eight Northeast states. The filmmakers showcased their films and participate in interactions with the audience.

Curtains came down here on Monday at the first-ever Borderland Narratives Film Festival (BNFF) with RGU Vice-Chancellor Prof Saket Kushwaha terming it as a platform for the North-eastern filmmakers to showcase their diverse cultures and also to explore newer forms of expression.

With a view to promote aspiring filmmakers and showcase the best of the region's films, Prof Kushwaha declared the festival as a calendar event for which he announced to earmark Rs 5 lakhs annually. RGU will lend all possible support for conducting such festivals, he added.

Calling for the preservation of the purity of language, he urged the students' body of the RGU to conduct an open campus programme on language preservation that would further help the tribal communities to learn and speak each other's dialects.

Lauding the theme of the Sikkimese film 'Chori' directed by Tribeny Rai, Prof Kushwaha stressed on the importance of girl child in society. He said our society needs to change attitude towards girl child and the best way is to showcase post-truth through films. Being torchbearers of society, the filmmakers need to bring changes in different aspects of life, he added.

While giving away the awards to the filmmakers for short film competition, he asserted that making good films is more important than winning prizes adding that language should not be the barrier to express and the varsity will always welcome for the good things.

In the short film competition, Ya:Yo (Grandmother) directed by Amalendu Kaushik from Assam was declared as the winner, while Badu: Lament of a fleeting Soul by Toni Perme received the Special Jury Award. The winning film has received a cash prize of rupees one lakh while the Special Jury Awardee got rupees 25 thousand.

River Story by Yapangnaro Longkum, The Vanishing Roots: Apatani Language and Culture by Dulley Tamang, Sweet Lemon by Tanom Jerang, Pialral-Ah by Napoleon RZ Thanga, Vanishing Roots by TageApa were the other films nominated for the Short Film competition category. On the last segment of the festival, Chori directed by Tribeny Rai and III Smoking Barrels directed by Sanjib Deywas were screened for the audiences.

The second day of the BNFF saw a decent turnout of film enthusiastic geeks from all walks of life that thronged the mini stadium at RGU campus on Sunday.

Expressing contentment on films screened, an Assistant Professor from Hindi department said, "A film festival of this sort is one of a kind experience where one can come at par with the emerging issues and challenges faced by entire North East under one roof." He reiterated that one should not miss out on such an opportunity.

Appreciating the content of the film 'Nana' directed by Tiakumzuk Aier, another film enthusiast expressed that the film holds close relevance in conthe text of Arunachal Pradesh. Since the State's Assembly and Lok-Sabha Election is just around the corner, the film can be screened at every polling station for wider awareness, he opined.

Director Tribeny Rai said that the festival has exceeded her expectation. Appreciating the untiring efforts of the festival organizer, she said 'I feel glad to be the part of the festival.'

On Sunday, a workshop on the topic, Researching Film Content in Archives and in Community was conducted by Resource Person, Wangphrang Deingdoh, who is the Director of the film 'Because We Did Dot Choose', which is one of the participating films in the film festival. The participants who were mostly from the department of Mass Communication were briefed about the film making process. Clearing various doubts on the topic, the resource person shared his experiences in researching film content in archives and in the community.

Films including Songs of the Mist by Kivini Shohe (Nagaland), Haja by Emang Debbarma (Tripura), Ma Ama by Dominic Sangma (Meghalaya), Mighty Brahmaputra by Bappa Ray Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), Dhokbu by Dawa Lepcha (Sikkim), Sulhnu by K C Zoherliana (Mizoram) and Orunasol Man by Nyago Ete were screened on the second day of the festival.

Meanwhile, in a run to promote local entrepreneurship, the women scholars of the university arranged a food court that served local cuisines was an instant hit.

Altogether, the festival featured 19 filmmakers representing the eight Northeast states. The filmmakers showcased their films and participate in interactions with the audience.

BNFF is organized by the AITS in collaboration with the IGNCA's NE regional centre, CCRD, Mishmi Takin Centre for Endangered Languages and the RGU's Mass Communication Department as the festival partners.