Manipuri filmmaker urges GIFF to screen movies in NE states

Manipur filmmaker Haobam Paban Kumar has suggested that the movies being screened at the ongoing Guwahati International Film Festival (GIFF) are shown in other north eastern states. Altogether 108 films, including 52 foreign movies, are being screened in the festival. It also includes Bengali, Malayalam, Punjabi, Marathi, Hindi, Assamese and other regional films. “GIFF is a very good initiative to promote a film culture in the region and it would be of immense help if it screens its films in other north eastern states so that more people will get to see good films,” Kumar told PTI. “Our cinema is in Kerala, Karnataka, Bengal, Assam and other states. This is real Indian cinema and not Bollywood,” the national award winning film maker said. Manipur has many independent filmmakers, but government support is lacking. For that reason, films are made on very low budgets, he said. Independent films are very popular in Manipur with around sixty releases every year though there are very few theatres in the state, he said. He said film streaming portals and television release had opened new horizons and film makers should explore these avenues. Kumar’s feature film ‘Loktak Lairembee'(Lady of the Lake), which won national award for Best Film on Environment in 2016, portrayed the lives of the fishing community living around the Loktak Lake. (PTI)