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

Strong wind lashes Lakhimpur; 25 injured

Normal life has been thrown out of gear when a devastating wind lashed Lakhimpur district on Friday.At least 25 persons were injured, thousands of people were rendered homeless, hundreds of houses and establishments were left ravaged when the wind was lashing the north Assam district only a brief period of 15 minute which began at around 12-30 at noon. According to initial report, more than 15 vehicles were damaged and the National Highway No. 52 was blocked by the uprooted trees. The injured people have been rushed to the Lakhimpur Civil Hospital.

CRPF jawan dead, 12 injured as DHD(J) attacks train in NC hills

A CRPF head constable and a civilian youth died, 12 others injured when DHD(J) rebels attacked a passenger train in North Cachar hills district on Friday.According to information, the rebels targeted the Barak Valley Express as the passenger train arrived in Wadringdisa in the hills district. The condition of two of the injured persons is said to be serious. Injured persons have been rushed to the hospital. Details are awaited.

Centre asks for Assam action plan on security

The Centre has asked for a comprehensive plan to ensure a paceful Lok Sabha poll in Assam slated for April 16 and 23. According to information, the Centre has directed Dispur to chalk out an action plan to ensure that militant attacks do not take place in Guwahati along with Karbi Anglong and North Cachar. The directive was prepared in Delhi a week after a high-level meeting held in Guwahati chaired by Union Cabinet secretary K M Chandrasekar and attended by top ranked officials if any, police and para military forces.The meeting further reviewed the law and order situation in the state in the aftermath of the serial blasts in Guwahati, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. Moreover, it assessed...

Wild tusker kills one

One Rambahadur Limbu (42), inhabitant of Sagunbahi village, under Paneri police station near Khalingduar Reserve Forest has been killed by a wild tusker in his village on April 7 at 7 pm. According to the villagers,the deceased person was returning home from nearby market.before he was picked up by the tusker which had been roaming in the locality. The man has left behind his wife and two sons. DN Hazarika Circle Officer, Harisinga Revenue Circle (Tangla) along with OC, Paneri police station visited the spot on April 8.

Bihu Husori at IIT Guwahati

The students of Assam of the Indian Institute of Technology (I.I.T.) Guwahati performed Bihu Husori in a function ‘Bohagor Duwardolit’ (a get-together of the student of Assam at IIT Guwahati) in their campus on April 5, 2009.

Blast at Dhekiajuli, Sonitpur district

A blast took place at the Batachipur Road, near Civil Hospital, Dhekiajuli town at around 3:45 today. Five people injured in the incident including security personnel.Earlier, there was a grenade blast at 8:45 am at Shantipur, Karbi Anglong district. There was no casualty in that incident.

Health checkup concludes at Guwahati Press Club

A health check up camp at Guwahati Press Club on Sunday (April 5) for Diabetes...

Khagen Saharia passes away

Noted educationist, Khagan Saharia,of Outala near Kalaigaon passed away on April 2 at 4.40 pm at his own residence.He had been the principal of Asom Jatiya Bidyalaya ,Outala till his death.His sudden demise has been mourned in and around Kalaigaon.Born in 1944, Khagen Saharia had been associating himself with numerous social activities till his death. He had been the former principal of Outala Higher Secondary School, former secretary of Friends Club, Outala, former president of Outala Sahitya Sabha. Khagen Saharia had been known for his simplicity. He was a good actor and director and directed several dramas including ‘Haribhakat’; ’Marisalir Usuponi’;’...

Sanjoy Hazarika Bereaved

Minal Hazarika wife of Sanjoy Hazarika, noted author, Journalist and Managing Trustee of Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research (C-NES), passed away on at the Gangaram Hospital, New Delhi on April 3, 2009. She had suffered a stroke at Guwahati on 15 January 2009 and was undergoing treatment at Gangaram Hospital for nearly three months. She was in her fifties and was a well known figure in Assam and in New Delhi. She leaves behind a daughter (Meghna Hazarika) besides her husband. At this hour of grief we pray for the departed soul.

Mega Food Park wall collapses

The boundary wall of the recently launched Mega Food Park at Nathkuchi (near Tihu under Nalbari district) collapsed. The newly constructed 150 meter of boundary wall of the park, which is first of its king in Northeast India, broke down last week. It is expected to create employment for nearly 30,000 people.Mentionable that, the Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi laid the foundation stone of the food park in February. The aim of the food park is to provide the basic facilities and common infrastructure to stimulate investment in the food processing sector.The project has been funded by the Union Ministry of Food Processing Industries with other sector participation like Assam Industrial...