Skip to content Skip to navigation

Tripura film bags first National Film Award

By editor |

Internationally acclaimed Kokborok film YARWNG (Roots) won the first national film award for Tripura at 56th National Film Awards (2008) held at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, 19 March, 2010. The President of India Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil handed over the medal and certificate to Don Bosco priests Joseph Kizhakechennadu (producer) and Fr. Joseph Pulinthanath (director) for their second feature film.


Pulinthanath dressed in white cassock and Kizhakechennadu in his preferred saffron lungi and half-sleeved white kurta were among 52 film award winners of 2008, including high-profile Bollywood actor Priyanka Chopra and the doyen of Indian Cinematography V.K. Murthy who was awarded country’s highest honor in cinema - the Dada Saheb Phalke Award.


Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting, Smt. Ambika Soni and Dr. S. Jagathrakshakan, Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting, and other officials accompanied the President.


Accent on People’s Cinema


The award winning 95 minute film Yarwng (Roots) tells the story of large-scale displacement of tribal people that took place in the tiny Northeastern state when a hydel project was set up there in the late 1970s. Yarwng was the opening film at the prestigious Indian Panorama section of the 39th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Panaji, Goa, November 2008.


According to the filmmakers, the script of Yarwng emerged from the numerous encounters they held with displaced people in the sanctity of their ramshackle homes. “All the incidents and emotional turmoil we see in the film were etched in the subconscious psyche of the people. All we did was to get close to them and feel their stories as they recalled them with looks, sighs, tears and also words,” recalled the priest director and winner of national and international awards.


“Although the technical team came from Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) and the support team from Guwahati (Assam), the best part of the production was the involvement of the local people,” says producer Kizhakechennadu who claims cinematic traditions from his legendary relative John Abraham, a genius in Malayalam cinema and founder of a people's cinema movement called Odessa.


All the artistes and production hands were from Tripura state including noted actors Meena Debbarma who plays the lead role of Karmati, Amulya Ratan Jamatia, Nirmal Jamatia and Surabhi Debbarma.


Yarwng has traveled throughout India and has been screened in major cities around the world including New York, Brisbane, Moscow, Taipei, Stuttgart and Dhaka.


Yarwng also won a Special Jury Mention Award at the 3rd Eye Asian film festival held in Mumbai in 2008.


The film, part-financed by Church organizations – Missio Germany, Signis and the Salesian Congregation is also a compelling testament to the commitment of the Church and the Don Bosco Society to preservation of local, indigenous cultures and people.


C.M. Paul, New Delhi

Comments

KOUSHIK HAZARIKA's picture

Submitted by KOUSHIK HAZARIKA on Sat, 27/03/2010 - 07:06
In the year of the brilliant Samson and Delilah, BIFF will bring a stream of films by or about Indigenous people, called Colourise films. These include The Inheritors, which documents rural Mexico, capturing the dignity and humanity of people in the face of incredible exploitation. Both Roots and Birdwatchers tell a universal story of displacement from land and culture.

Pages

Add new comment

Other Contents by Author

Network Travels owner sent to jail

City police have arrested the Network Travels proprietor Pradyunmya Kumar Dutta charging him with threatening a driver with arms. The driver, who also attacked Dutta was also arrested for attacking him. On Sunday both they have been remanded to judicial custody when they were produced before the court.According to information, Pradyunmya Dutta alias Piku, was driving this car on Saturday night. The car bearing No 01 AX-0011 was slightly damaged at Sixmile when a loaded truck touched it. Piku threatened the truck driver Paramjit Singh at gunpoint. Paramjit tried to avoid him and left for Khanapara. Piku also followed. The driver of the truck then attacked the Network Travels proprietor.Later...

Asomiya Bhasha Sikshan Centre at Bokakhat

Asom Xahitya Xabha opened an Asomiya Bhasha Sikshan Centre in Bokakhat Puwati Xahitya Xabha on June 20. Brajen Katoky, the secretary of Asomiya Bhasha Janane Examination, Asom Xahitya Xabha formally inaugurated the centre. Thaneswar Hazarika, the retired Principal of JDSG College has been appointed as the director of the new centre. IT is to be noted that this is the 5th centre under Asom Xahitya Xabha.KOUSHIK HAZARIKA, BOKAKHAT

Flood in Dhekiajuli

Commuters move ahead through the flooded water in the Rakashmari area in Dhekiajuli on 24-07-08. Pix by UB Photos.

Arms recovered

Bokakhat police recovered one .22 revolver and 2 rounds of cartridges from one Ganesh Pegu (25) of Balijan Adrasha Mising Gaon on 22nd july. He was immediately arrested. According to police report, the miscreant kept the arms in his possession to kill rhino who was an informer of poachers. A case was also registered at the police station under Arms Act.

From politics of representation to the politics of numbers

The game of numbers was never at its vulgar ebb as it is today. It is clear by now, more than ever before that electoral politics is nothing more than valueless and opportunistic arithmetic. Votes and candidates, parties and parliamentarians are being traded in the electoral bazaar of India as if politics is a game sans values. It probably is.This is the irrefutable message that almost all the political parties have sent out this past week to the millions across India, the millions of dalits, adivasis, farmers, labourers, fish workers, hawkers, women and others who are economically, socially and politically marginalized, yet repose trust in their elected representatives and continue to vote...

MPs visits NEEPCO hydro-electric project in Arunachal

Dr. Arun Sarma, MP of Lakhimpur district and Kiren Rijiju, MP of Western Parliamentary constituency of Lower Subansiri district on 19th July 2008 visited the site of NEEPCO hydro-electric project at Yachuli in Lower Subansiri district in Arunachal Pradesh which was instrumental in creation of flood in Lakhimpur district.Photo: UB Photos.

Red alert sounds in Guwahati fearing ULFA strike

The authority sounds red alert in the city of Guwahati following a specific input that a seven member hardcore ULFA group belonging to 27th and 709th have sneaked into it to disrupt the Independence Day celebration. According to information, These cadres belonging to ULFA 27th and 709th battalions aim at claiming their strength with strike in the form of explosion to disrupt the Independence day celebrations on August 15. Thereby, they are set to claim that the unilateral ceasefire by the A and C companies of the crack unit has no impact on its strength. Strict instructions have issued to each of the city police stations to remain alert in view of these inputs. It has also been disclosed...

Mathur visits Majuli

Governor of Assam Shiv Charan Mathur along with his wife Sushila Mathur have been welcomed by the gayon-bayons in a traditional manner during his maiden visit after being the Governor of Assam to the World’s Largest River Island Majuli on 18-07-08. Pix by UB Photos.

Citizens demand redrafting of Guwahati Master Plan

A Citezens' meet here today demanded redrafting of the proposed Guwahati Master Plan with inorporation of suggestions put forward by various citizens' committees in the city..Organised by the Journalists' Forum, Assam at the Guwahati Press Club, the meet demanded an immediate survey of the green belt and and eco-sensitive areas of the city, which should cover the entire gamut of issues including citizenship and economic status.Presided over by JFA president Rupam Baruah, the meet asked the authorities to reduce the pressure of water on the Bharalu river. They pleaded that the Shilsako beel be reclaimed and the storm-water from catchment areas of the beel be redirected to the beel itself....

Meeting on the Peace Process

Leader of the Ceasefire Group of 28th Battalion of United Liberation Front of Assam Mrinal Hazarika addressing in a meeting at Guwahati on 18-07-08 organized by the Omeo Kumar Das Institute of Social Change and Development in presence of renowned journalists, literatures and others over the current development in the peace process of Assam. Pix by UB Photos.