Cannes: Dominic Sangma, a young filmmaker from Meghalaya, is the only Indian chosen for a film project at the Cannes film festival this year. The movie titled Rapture is the story of an insect, Cicada which arrives after every four years in Nongthymmai Garo village under Jirang consituency in Ri Bhoi.
Once in every four years, villagers come out in droves at night to hunt the insect for food. Cicada, as the insect is called, arrived in May last year, four years after its last appearance. Now, thanks to a young filmmaker from their community, the insect hunt story is poised to become a movie.
Sangma’s film revolves around the disappearance of a boy when the villagers are busy collecting the insects. “We shot the opening scenes of the film showing people collecting the insects last year,” Sangma said.
“Otherwise it would have been a wait for another four years when the insects would arrive again,” he adds. “I was collecting the insects along with my family last year. It is interesting Cicada comes only during the time of the football World Cup,” says Sangma.
“The insects come here in millions,” says a resident of Nongthymmai Garo village. “People from my community throng the forest to catch the insect because it is tender and tasty. The insect is collected at night in a community participation. It looks like fire flies,” he added.
Sangma’s first film Ma.Ama premiered at the Mumbai film festival last year. The film was also set in this village.
“The new project is completely different from my first film,” says Sangma. Ma.Ama tells the story of the filmmaker’s relationship with his father and stepmother and memories about his mother.
“The story and script is ready and I also have a producer from China on board,” says Sangma, who will be meeting with sales agents and programmers from major international film festivals during his stay in Cannes. “It is an honour to have Indian filmmaker Mira Nair as our mentor,” he said. He came to Cannes as part of a delegation of National Film Development Coporation while he was making his first film.
Sangma is also a graduate of the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, Kolkata. (UNI)
