Imphal film fest to focus on sport

20 movies to be screened

Imphal, Dec. 31 : The Manipur Film Development Corporation, in association with Hun-tre International Manipuri Projects, a New York-based group, is organising a five-day international film festival in Imphal from January 11.

The festival, Re:Play 2012, International Film Kumhei (festival), will be held at Imphal’s Jawaharlal Nehru Dance Academy.

It comprises narrative, documentary and experimental films that are screened at other distinguished international film festivals.

Twenty films from Indonesia, US and Manipur will be screened during the festival, some of them for the first time in India.

For instance, Andibachtiar Yusuf’s Romeo and Juliet (Indonesia) will be premiered for the first time during the festival.

Shakespeare’s classic gets an Indonesian twist in this film.

Check your body at the Door (US) depicts an astonishing underground club house in New York, where dancers exist in a world that parallels other professional dancers.

Manipur filmmaker Aribam Syam Sharma’s Sangai: The Dancing Deer of Manipur will also be screened on the concluding day of the festival.

Sangai blends Manipuri folklore, ballads and environmental concern in a ballet performed by a unit from the Jawaharlal Nehru Manipur Dance Academy.

The film was awarded the British Film Institute’s Outstanding Film of the Year Award in 1989.

A number of film workshops will also be held during the festival.

The films will also focus on the culture of Indonesia.

“We could organise the film festival with the support of Manipur governor Gurbachan Jagat,” K. Sobita Devi, managing director of Manipur Film Development Corporation, said.

Festival director L. Somy Roy, from the US, said the organisers decided to focus on sport because Manipur was known for sport.

“Sport is what Manipur is good at. Many people are interested in Manipur’s sporting feats. After seeing the films on sport made by other filmmakers our state’s film makers can also make similar ones,” Roy, who originally hails from Imphal, said.

Roy, a film curator, said individuals and groups approached him from other cities of India to organise such international film festivals.

“Most of the films being screened during the Imphal festival have not been seen in India. So many people are taking an interest in the Imphal festival. So, I am thinking of taking the films to other cities, including Calcutta and Delhi after the Imphal festival,” he added.