OUR CORRESPONDENT
ITANAGAR: The first ever two-day International Tribal Film Festival (ITFF), held at picturesque Dirang in the West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh, showcased films and documentaries dealing with the tribal art and culture.
Organized by the Arunachal Pradesh Government and supported by the Directorate of Film Festivals under the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry, the festival opened on March 5, screened movies across different languages by tribal and non-tribal filmmakers at Picturetime's Mobile Digital Movie Theatre (MDMT).
An inflatable mobile theatre company, which has come to be known for harbouring film festivals across India, set up three inflatable theatres and one open air screen during the festival.
The event also held panel discussions on the importance of tribal films and the pros and cons of shooting in North-East.
Renowned and emerging filmmakers interacted with the audience post screening to take them through the making of their films, thereby also inspiring storytellers in the region.
'Badhaai Do' fame actress Chum Darang and actor Sangay Tsheltrim ('Radhe' fame) were special guests at the festival and were felicitated at ITFF.
"What an amazing initiative. I think we should have more festivals like this, to encourage the actors, writers, filmmakers from the region. This gives us the perfect platform to showcase our talent," commented Darang.
"And the concept of inflatable theatres, I think it's the next big thing, a total game changer for sure, making cinema accessible to the interiors of this country," she added.
The inflatable theatres screened films, including Assamese film 'Semkhor' (in Dimasa language), 'Crossing Bridges', which won the national film award for best film in Shertukpen language of Arunachal Pradesh in 2013, 'A Dog and his Man', national award-winning Khasi film 'Onataah', acclaimed 2021 bilingual Manipuri film 'Nine Hills One Valley', which is also among the entries in the India Gold section of the ongoing 22nd Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2022, 'Ma Ama', the first Garo movie to win a national award and 'Songs of the Blue Hills' directed by Utpal Borpujari.
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