Imphal July 17: Haobam Paban Kumar’s documentary film Iron Women of Manipur and Meena Longjam’s documentary film Andro Dreams will compete in the 15th International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala 2023 organised by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy on behalf of Government of Kerala to be held at Thiruvananthapuram from August 5 to 9, 2023. Iron Women of Manipur has been officially selected among 15 films in the Competition Short Documentary category and Andro Dreams among 14 films in the Competition Long Documentary category of the festival.
Haobam Paban Kumar’s 26 minutes long Manipuri documentary Iron Women of Manipur is a tribute to the sports personalities of the country who have contributed immensely to the development of women in sports. With their inspiring stories, the pioneers of women’s weightlifting in India have impacted a whole generation and continue to do so. The film follows the inspiring stories of the pioneers of women weightlifters from N. Kunjarani Devi, Padmashri Awardee 2011 and Anita Chanu, Dhyanchand Awardee to the present-day weightlifting sensation of India Mirabai Chanu, Padmashri Awardee 2018.
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Narration and subject expert of the film is the sports journalist Ratneshwari Goswami. Saikhom Ratan is the cameraman, Laishram Devakumar Meetei is the sound designer and Sankha is the editor. The film is produced by the Films Division.
Haobam Paban Kumar is a prominent voice emitting out of the restive north eastern state of Manipur in India dabbling in both non-fiction and fiction storytelling. Immediately after graduating from Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute of India in Kolkata, he made his hard-hitting documentary AFSPA 1958 which won many accolades including the prestigious Swarna Kamal in the National Film Awards and a screening at MOMA, New York. A Cryin the Dark is another film which was screened at the 31st Toronto Film Festival 2006. After nearly a decade of documentary filmmaking, he made his critically acclaimed feature film Loktak Lairembee (Lady of the Lake) which featured at 67th Berlin Film Festival 2017 and 21st Busan International Film Festival 2016. Till date, Haobam Paban Kumar won five national film awards and seven Indian Panorama selections for his films.
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Meena Longjam’s63 minutes 17 seconds long documentary Andro Dreamsis the love story of Laibi, an old woman with spirited soul, and her three decades old all girls’ football club battling economic challenges, patriarchal system and orthodox in an ancient village of northeast India.
Sunny Sarungbam is the cameraman, DebajitGayal sound designer, Sankha editor and Jimbo Takhellambam music in the film which is produced by Airameen Media and Janis Vishwanath.
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Dr. Meena Longjam is a national award winning independent filmmaker and the first woman filmmaker from Manipur to bag national award in her debut documentary film- Autodriver. In 2015, she launched Airameen Media to produce films related to social and gender issues and publish books related to media and the arts. Her recent work Achoubi in Love was screened at Film South Asia, Kathmandu 2019. She is currently teaching as Assistant Professor under the Department of Cultural Studies, Manipur University of Culture.
(Film Society of Manipur)
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