The Northeast India Audiovisual Archive, along with the Department of Mass Media, St Anthony's College Shillong, organised the indie8 Documentary Film Festival on the 8th-10th March, 2023. The indie8 Documentary Film Festival was sponsored by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation (SPF). The aspiration to provide a platform for filmmakers from the northeastern region of India to showcase their work motivated the initiation of the festival, along with the ambition to disseminate the knowledge of the cultures and events in Northeast India through film, and to help people understand the importance of film and the immediate need to preserve them.
The festival and the submission of films were announced in December, 2022, and an official website of the festival, www.indie8.com was also set up. In February 2023, a selection committee was appointed to select 16 films to be screened during the festival out of the total 31 films that were submitted. The selection jury was composed of Mary Kurkalang, art curator and writer, Lapdiang Syiem, performing artist, Dondor Lyngdoh, Filmmaker, and Savio Diengdoh, producer and proprietor of local news channel t7.
The indie8 Documentary Film Festival was inaugurated by Chief Guest of the inaugural program, Smti Careen J Langstieh on the 8th March, 2023, followed by the screening of the following list of films.
• Highways of Life (Director: Amar Maibam)
• Ne Sotal (Director: Shrutiman Deori)
• The Endless Note: Folk Instruments of Sikkim (Director: Karma Palzor Bhutia)
• Fire on Edge (Director: Pranab Jyoti Deka and Sujit Debbarma)
• Man and the Wild (Director: Shantanu Sen)
• I Rise (Director: Borun Thokchom)
• Before You Were My Mother (Director: Prasuna Dongol)
Collaborating with Film South Asia, indie8 screened the film Before You Were My Mother directed by Prasuna Dongol. This film screening was made possible by the suggestion of Laxmi Murthy, author and head of the Hri Institute for Southasian Research Exchange, who had visited the archive a few months earlier.
On the 9th March, 2023, the following films were screened.
• Time in an Object (Director: Abhinash Bharali)
• Rosemwala (Director: Sanjib Das)
• Birubala- The Fearless Crusader (Director: Dhiraj Kashyap)
• Gosain: The Colours of Spring (Director: Bishal Swagiary)
• Absent River ( Director: Devadeep Sarma Gupta)
• Meiram- The Fireline (Director: James Khangenbam)
• Hun Khirh (Director: Napoleon RZ Thanga)
• Double Layered Town/ Making a Song to Replace Our Positions (Directors: Komori Haruka and Seo Natsumi)
Collaborating with Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival, indie8 screened the documentary film Double Layered Town/ Making a Song to Replace Our Positions. Ms. Ayumi Hata was present to introduce the film and filmmakers and give the context of the film. This special screening was made possible by the collaboration of the Archive and YIDFF.
The following films were screened on the final day of the festival.
• The Way Home: A Lisu Story (Directors: Wesabo Yobin and R Thochipa Christopher Bareh)
• I Am Property (Director: Karry Padu)
• My Name is Eeoow (Director: Oinam Doren)
• Mask Art of Majuli (Director: Utpal Borjupari)
• Sound from the Hallow Bamboo (Director: Vito Sumi)
• Writing with Fire (Directors: Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh)
After every film had been screened, the makers of the film were felicitated, and there was also a question and answer session in which the audience had the opportunity to interact with them. Two master classes were presented to registered participants and to the students of the sixth semester, of the Department of Mass Media - one by Borun Thokchom, and the other by Academy Award nominees and filmmakers Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh. Right outside the College Auditorium wherein the screening of the films happened, there was a coffee station where the audience and students could interact with the filmmakers over a cup of coffee. There was also present, a large logo backdrop where attendees to the festival could pose for photographs. The indie8 Documentary Film Festival witnessed a large audience on all the three days, and the feedback gathered from students and visitors suggests that the festival was an enriching experience for all attendees and for everyone involved in organising it. All Northeast films submitted for the festival has been added to the collection of The Northeast India AV Archive.
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