Assamese Short-Film 'Xogun' Selected for the 21st New York Indian Film Festival

Guwahati:

Xokun, which is an Assamese word for 'vulture', is an Assamese short film adapted from noted writer-journalist Manoj Kumar Goswami's acclaimed short story which goes by the same name. 

Utpal Borpujari's film Xokun, which he scripted and directed, has been selected for the 21st New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF). 

Xogun, produced by IFT India, is one of 58 feature films, documentaries, and short films from across India selected for NYIFF, one of the world's most prestigious Indian film festivals.

The film festival will be held virtually from June 4 to 15, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Xogun previously won the Best Film Award at the Gauhati Cine Club's 13th Guwahati International Film Festival and was screened at India's most prestigious short film and documentary festival, the 14th Signs Festival in Thiruvanathapuram. 

The film, like the original story, was shot in the Agia region of Goalpara with the help of Badunduppa Kala Kendra. It takes a serious and hard look at some aspects of modern-day journalism practices in a powerful way.

"As a former journalist who wrote and reported from metros as well as some of the most-interior parts of India for over two decades, I feel strongly about how the profession has responded to the times – with the negatives often outweighing the positives. Manoj Kumar Goswami's story is a powerful reflection of how things are," said Borpujari on the subject of the film. 

"Like in any other profession, there have always been corrupt elements within journalism too, but rarely was corruption institutionalized like it has been in the recent years – be it in the form of paid news, fake news, individual corruption or the unstated institutional alignment with political parties and corporate houses. I feel that the responsibility for the rot largely lies on those who looked the other way – while not forgetting to pontificate – as the profession degenerated over the years. This short film is a reflection on all this, in a darkly realistic way," he said.

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