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

Cup of woes: tea growers on the streets

Resentment is simmering among the small tea growers in Assam in the absence of a viable market to beat the downward trend of tea price. The planters on Saturday suspended plucking of leaves and dumped green tea leaves on the NH-52 at Biswanath Chariali blocking it for two hours alleging government indifference. About three thousand small tea growers and their supporters blocked the road, Jitu Saikia general secretary of Sonitpur Small Tea Growers Association said. According to Assam State Small Tea Grower Association executive member Krishna Sankar Hazarika, the price rate of raw tea grown by small tea gardens in the north bank has been reduced from Rs 21 to Rs 10.

KNPF heavyweights arrested in Diphu

Police claimed to have apprehended four top KNPF topguns in Karbi Anglong on Saturday. The arrested KNPF leaders have been identified as Mongol Tokbi, Chikandar Rongpi, Shankar Engleng and Mukhim Rongpi. They are president, secretary and chief adviser respectively. They were arrested on the basis of a telephonic conversation which was intercepted by police on Friday.

Gogoi hails Indo-Myanmar agreement

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Saturday the Indo-Myanmar pact signed on Friday would benefit the north-eastern states in terms of tackling insurgency in the region. Talking to reporters in Dispur, Gogpi said the pact is indded a good news for Assam and its neighbouring states. He said ULFA, NDFB and NSCN and other groups from the region have camps in the neighbouring country and that Myanmar would also launched an operation to flush out insurgent outfits camping on its soil. He further expressed grave concern over the steep rise in the Maoist activities in Sadiya, bordering Arunachal Pradesh and Myanmar. The Chief minister hoped that the opening of the Stilwell Road would benefit...

Rich tribute paid to Kamal Gogoi

Rich tribute was paid in memory of eminent veteran journalist Mr. Kamal Gogoi, who died on November 5th ,2011 last at the age of 87, at a meeting organized by Journalist Forum Assam (JFA) today in the premises of Guwahati Press Club. The meeting , presided over by senior journalist Jatindra Kumar Borgohain, was addressed by senior journalists Prafulla Barua, JP Saikia, Ranen Kumar Goswami, Hiten Mahanta, Rupam Barua, Sabita Lahkar, Jagadindra Raichoudhury Nava Thakuria etc. The speakers described about Mr. Gogoi’s value based and courageous journalism along with his strong personality. Besides his journalism, Mr. Gogoi was also a...

Gogoi reviews Merapani situation

Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi on Monday reveiwed the volatile situation in Merapani where AGP and KMSS held rally in protest against deployment of Nagaland police force. Top ranked officials are monitoring the situation. Notably, Nagaland police asked the residents in Kolaijan to leave the area.

Meeting to commemorate Kamal Gogoi

Journalists Forum Assam has organized a meeting in memory of veteran journalist and freedom fighter Kamal Gogoi at Guwahati Press Club on Tuesday (October 11) morning (11 am). Gogoi died recently at the age of 87. Haling from a poor family of Narayanpur (Lakhimpur), Gogoi started his career as a journalist in ‘Dainik Asom’ and ‘Asom Bani’ from the Tribune group of publications in Fifties. Gogoi retired as the deputy editor to ‘Dainik Asom’ and later joined as the editor of ‘Sadiniya Prahari’ from the Sentinel group of publications. A man of principles, Gogoi also authored few books. JFA requests all journalists to attend the same.

Police firing at jute cultivators; 4 dead

Four persons died and at least 20 others have been injured when security forces sprang upon a group of jute cultivators on Monday when they were blocking the national highway in Darrang district demanding hike in jute prices. The gory shoot out took place at 2 at Besimari in the afternoon when security forces started firing at the protesters when they were staging road blockade demanding due price for jute. Initially, policemen tried to clear the national highway. When the farmers refused to go away. A section of the protesters clashed with the security forces the situation turned volatile where security forces resorted to firing to disperse the protesters. Four jute farmers died on...

Guwahati pauses as countdown to first international music fest begins

If you thought that with the end of puja the festivities were also over, you better think once again. Indian psychedelic rock sensation Menwhopause carried the puja fever to a different pitch altogether in the ROCKTOBER RIFFS –rock of the ages concert held at Shilpgram last Saturday. The concert marked the formal countdown to the 1st Guwahati International Music Festival. The event was formally inaugurated by Secretary to the Government of Assam, Cultural Affairs, Youth Welfare and Sports Department Santanu Thakur, IAS. Lauding the efforts of Eastern Beats Music Society towards the promotion and preservation of musical and art forms of the region, he spoke at length about the...

AGP MLA wife shot dead

In a sensational shoot out, the wife of sitting opposition Asom Gana Parishad MLA, Bhupen Roy was allegedly shot dead by their personal security officer in Bongaigaon district on Sunday. The incident took place in the afternoon when Jeuti Roy, was travelling with the PSO Sanatan Das at Baithamari near Abhayapuri when the PSO started indiscriminate firing at the car where Jeuti died on the spot. Immediately after the incident, PSO Das had allegedly fired at himself and was in a critical condition in the hospital. In a suicide note that was recovered from the vehicle, Jeuti wrote to her husband to take care of their two children. The police suspected that the PSO had an illicit...

Advani to address Guwaahti rally on Oct 20

Senior BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani is set to hold a huge rally in Guwahati on October 20. The Assam BJP leaders are finalizing the spot at Sonaram Playground to help the BJP heavyweight expose the misdeeds and failure of the Tarun Gogoi Government. This would be followed by his another rally at Itanagar.