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

ANLA involved in Tezpur blast

The recent blast that rocked Tezpur town killing one person was engineered by ANLA. This was confirmed by the police saying the ANLA cadres have planted the bomb at the bicycle. Sources here say the Adivasi militants outfit were fed up with the stiff protest against the bandh calls in Tezpur by the AASAA. Police topguns have already gathered some inputs relating to the incident from the eyewitnesses. It may re noted that one person died and some fourteen have been injured while the powerful blast took place at Borgola in Tezpur at a distance of 100 meter away from the Police Station on Wednesday noon. Earlier ULFA was suspected to be behind the blast but the banned insurgent outfit has...

Shilabhadra passes away

Noted litterateur and Sahitya Akademy ward winning writer Reboti Mohan Dutta Chaudhory passed away on Friday night at a city hospital. For the 87 year writer of the Madhupur ArunTaangini, the end came at around 8-30 in the evening. Popularly known as Shilabhadra, Dutta Chaudhory was admitted in the hospital two weeks back in view of his old age ailment. He was born in 1924 in Gauripur in Dhubri district. He completed his graduation from Carmichael College in Rongpur and later did his mater degree in mathematics from the Calcutta Univrsity in 1946. He started his career as a teacher in Cotton College. After working as a journalist for a short spell of time he joined the Jorhat Engineering...

Celebrities felicitated at the Trade Fair

Cricketer Rajesh Bora , Olympian Dipankar Bhatttacherjee , footballer Govinda Boro and Body builder Mr. India Bijit Gogoi being felicitated during the inauguration ceremony of 15th International Guwahati Trade Fair at Chadmari Field, Guwahati on 29-02-08 evening. Pix by UB Photos.

Mohim Bora admitted at GMCH

Renowned Litterature Mohim Bora seen on the GMCH bed as he has been admitted at the Gauhati Medical College Hospital in Guwahati on 29-02-08 after his health is reported to be unwell for the past few days. Pix by UB Photos.

Illegal timber felling at Abhayapuri Reserve Forest

Abhayapuri Reserve Forest causing deforestation at Abhayapuri Reserve Forest under Charaideo sub division. Pix by UB Photos.

Tension in Dhansiri as Nagaland steps in to set up polling booth

It’s trouble that brews again in Golaghat district bordering Nagaland following a bid to set up a polling booth for the March 5 Assembly polls forcing the authorities to review the situation prevailing in the area.According to information, the Nagaland people have been terrorizing the areas within Assam territory which fall under B sector in Dhansiri sub division. Even the people who have been living in the areas in Assam for decades are sometimes forced by the Naga people to take their consent in selling and purchase of land and even to repair their own houses. The gaonburahs of the region apprised these while they attended a recent meeting in Uriamghat organised to take stock of...

Poaching in KNP: AASU demands CBI probe

The All Assam Students Union has demanded a CBI enquiry into the rhino poachings at the Kaziranga National Park and alleged that the poachers are backed by a section of forest officials and also by some ministers and MLAs.Addressing a press conference in the city, AASU General secretary tapan Kumar Gogoi said that the failure to check the rhino poachings is proves that a section of forest officials backed some ministers and MLAs have been aiding and abetting the poachers. He said only a CBI probe could unearth the truth behind it.

Jahnu Barua to participate in Assam Assciation Daimond jubilee function

As part of the Assam Association, Delhi's Diamond Jubilee, a series of lectures by eminent personalities is being organized in the national capital.You are cordially invited to the second lecture in the series as per the following schedule:Lecture on "A United North-East: My Never-Ending Dream" by eminent filmmaker Jahnu BaruaTime: 5 PM (preceded by high tea at 4:30 PM)Venue: Speaker's Hall, Constitution Club, Rafi Marg, New Delhi - 1.Date: 1st March, 2008, Saturday.For further information, please contact:Dr Hareswar DekaGeneral SecretaryAssam Association, DelhiSrimanta Sankardeva BhawanA14B, Qutab Institutional AreaSatsang Vihar MargNew Delhi 110067Tel: +91-98182-52414Email:...

Police pick up 2 with explosive materials

The city police picked up two people and seized a huge quantity of explosive materials while it was running an operation in Patharkunwari area on Tuesday midnight. According to information, the city police firstly rounded up up one Binod Thapa with an electrical detonator and some explosive materials. Binod led the police to the house of one Haramohan Barman and recovered 14 such electrical detonators and 50 detonator in addition to 4 gelatin sticks and four kilogram explosive materials. The police suspect that both the people have help ULFA. The police have some inputs that ULFA cadre Champak Sarma, who was recent arrested from the city received explosive materials from him.

1 dead, 14 injured in Tezpur town

One died and as many as fourteen people have been injured when suspected ULFA militants exploded a powerful bomb on Wednesday in Tezpur town forcing a spontaneous bandh of the town from afternoon. According to information, the bomb was planted at a bicycle in front of Borgola, at 100 km away from the Tezpur Police Station. Four of the injured people are stated to be serious and they have been rushed to the nearest Tezpur Civil Hospital. They are Raju Barman, Suraj Prasad, Srimanta Hazarika. The critically injured Ajit Ghose died on way to the Guwahati medical College Hospital. Four injured people have been released after primary treatment. High level police and civil officials are at the...