Nava J Thakuria
Guwahati: The 5th Chalachitram national film festival, which was organized virtually because of the Covid-19 pandemic, concluded with satisfactory response from the film appreciators. Among the participating films in various languages like English, Hindi, Marathi, Malayalam, Tamil, Manipuri and Assamese, ‘The Tainted Mirror’ and ‘Deliverance’ swept the awards.
Manipuri film Tainted Mirror, directed by Romi Meitei, which narrates the story of consumerism that gradually grasps present value system in the society, was honoured with the grand jury best film award. It was also awarded for the best short fiction. Zachary Coffin, who directed English movie Deliverance with the tale of two monks with the mission for self-realization, was conferred on the grand jury best director award.
Best actor award went to Tonthoi (for performing in Manipuri film Panthougli Liklam), where jury’s special mention award was offered to Marathi film Bhet, critics circle’s special mention to Amogh Deshpande (Deliverance) for best cinematography and the circle’s special mention to Yaikhomba Dishiraj Sarma (Tainted Mirror) as the best child artiste for sensitively portraying the childhood emotion, agony and complexities.
As the Manipuri cinema has been celebrating its golden jubilee year in 2021, the festival organizers arranged for the screening of ‘Binodini: A Tribute’ and ‘Imagi Ningthem’ (both directed by Aribam Shyam Sharma) along with ‘The First Leap’ and ’50 Years of Manipuri Cinema: A Glimpse’ (by Haobam Paban Kumar). Acclaimed Assamese movie ‘Kolaahal’ (created by Dr Bhabendra Nath Saikia) was also screened on the occasion of his death anniversary.
“We made the entire process as simple as possible. Anyone from anywhere in the world was able to enjoy the participating films just by clicking on the links displayed on our website (https://filmfreeway.com/ChalachitramNationalFilmFestival),” said the festival director Utpal Datta, adding that the inaugural session of the weeklong venture was organized on 10 August.
Cinema can be a powerful catalyst of social changes and a rich handloom of heritages. But in our country it remains largely confined to glossy entertainment, commented Datta adding, the primary purpose of the Chalachitram festival is to build a bridge between the traditional & modern and to enable cinema to travel beyond the mainstream touching the grass roots.