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

Informal Interaction with Sabita Goswami

The Guwahati Press Club has arranged an informal interactive session of the city-based journalists with the veteran lady journalist Sabita Goswami on Saturday, October 17 at 11 am. Smt Goswami is the first woman of Assam to edit an English newspaper. She started her journalist career in 1972 reporting for the Blitz. She also worked for the BBC, AFP, AP, The Week and the Dainik Janambhumi. Smt Goswami served the media during the turbulent days of the Assam agitation and the heydays of ULFA. She also raised the banner of revolt against the ULFA terror in an undaunted manner, along with a few of her colleagues, in the 1990s. She has by now written her autobiography in Assamese to record her...

Ponds White Beauty The Eclectic Model Hunt 2009

Pulsating music, hot contestants in shimmering gowns, elegant, dazzling sarees, and casual wear, and a mindblowing performance by Sourabhee Debbarma, the latest star of Indian Idol, set the packed crowd at Pragjyoti ITA, Machkhowa on fire on October 10. The second edition of The Eclectic Model Hunt, organised by The Eclectic and sponsored by Ponds White Beauty, the number one magazine from Northeast India kicked off to a roaring start with the lighting of the ceremonial lamp by T.G. Baruah, chairman of The Assam Tribune Group of Newspapers. The Eclectic Model Hunt is an attempt to offer a platform to showcase aspiring young talents who can carve a name for themselves in the world of...

Arun Sarma to attend GPC programme

Eminent playwright Arun Sarma will attend the ‘Guest of the Month’ programme of Guwahati Press Club on October 16 (Friday). The function will start from 12 at noon. The winner of both Sahitya Akademi and Sangeet Natak Akademi awards, Sarma will speak about various issues during the interacting programme.

Protest Rally against Terrorism, Government Inaction on Oct 15 in Guwahati

A group of senior journalist-citizens have appealed to the people of Assam to join in a protest rally scheduled on October 15 (Thursday) against the violent activities endorsed by all armed groups of Northeast India and also condemned the State government for its irresponsible attitude towards the Bhimajuli massacre and victims. The protest meet and procession will start at 11 am from in front of the Guwahati Press Club. The appeal, signed by DN Bezboruah (former editor The Sentinel and former chairman of Editors’ Guild of India), DN Chakrabarty (former editor of Dainik Asom, Ajir Batori and Natun Dainik), Nirupama Borgohain (academy award winner littérateur and columnist) TG...

Media must be responsible: Bezboruah

Media must play its role with all authenticity and commitments. More over the media persons must be investigative in mind and responsible in the activities. This is how a senior Assamese journalist DN Bezboruah started an orientation program for the mid career journalists of Guwahati Press Club on October 10. Attending the program, organized by the press club, the former editor of ‘The Sentinel’ inspired the journalists to take up the issues, those are relevant and important for the life and living of the common people. The former president of ‘Editors Guild of India’, Bezboruah also elaborated about the importance of media fellowship program and the required...

GPC Media Orientation Program

Guwahati Press Club has initiated for a series of media orientation programs for the benefit of its member-journalists. The first lecture of the series will be delivered by the veteran journalist DN Bezboruah on October10 (Saturday). The lecture will begin at 10 am sharp in the press club auditorium, which will be followed by interaction with the resource person. The former editor of ‘The Sentinel’ and also former president of ‘Editors Guild of India’ Bezboruah will speak about the importance of media fellowship program and also the required quality and efficiency of the fellows to make the initiative a success. Bezboruah, who has been involved with a national...

Rural Health Practitioners: the torch bearers for the rural folk of Assam

"We live in such a place where there is no facility of modern communication system. The road condition is very poor, so naturally transport system is worse. During rainy season we are compelled to live like animals. In health sector, of course we have a dispensary in our village, but there is no doctor for last 15/20 years. So, whenever someone fell sick, the family members of that person had to take the patient for to the state hospital/ phc far away from our village. Apart from that during rainy season our place is affected by flood every time; and this is the time when we people had to suffer a lot. It is very unfortunate for us that though we have a state dispensary here, still we...

Bhimajuli burning with simmering tension

A simmering situation is what prevails at Bhimajuli area in Sonitpur district on Monday a day after armed NDFB rebels gunned down at least 12 villagers where over 20 others have been injured. The angry residents in the tiny hamlet spilled into the streets with bows and sharp arrows in their hands and prevented CRPF jawans from entering in the village. Some other residents have set on fire the vehicle of a magistrate as it was on the way to the village. Some of them set ablaze as many as 25 Boro houses in retaliation to this strike by the Boro rebel outfit. This has forced policemen on duty to resort to blank firing to disperse the mob. Assam DGP Shankar Baruah even was not allowed to...

NDFB strikes again; 12 dead

At least 12 persons were killed and 30 others injured in an indiscriminate firing by the banned National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) militants at Bhiumajuli in Bihali Reserve Forest area in Sonitpur district on Sunday. According to information, heavily armed militants belonging to the RaNJAN DAIMARY faction of the Voro rebel outfit came to the spot on Sunday evening and started to fire targeting some shops. The militants earlier served extortion notices only to be denied by the villagers. Immediately after the firing, the militants left the spot leaving 11 persons dead on the spot.The injured have been rushed to nearby civil hospitals at Biswanath Chariali and...

Assam Cruises get coveted tourism award

Good news. Assam Cruises on the river Brahmaputra wins the coveted Tour of the Year Destination Development Awards in Japan. Operated by private sector Assam Bengal Navigation (ABN) cruise won the prize for promoting Brahmaputra river cruises on luxurious boats M V Charaidew and M V Sukapha for the Japanese market. According to information, the award was given by Japan Association of Travel Agents recently at the JATA World Congress in Tokyo. The ABN's first river cruise was on Brahmaputra in 2003 and subsequent cruises were on Hoogly river in West Bengal began from 2005. The luxury river boats 'Charaidew' was commissioned with 12 air-conditioned en-suite cabins followed by the near...