‘Manipur Unexplored’, the state pavilion of Manipur government at the 53rd IFFI is attracting the film-makers, actors, directors and producers to shoot films in the state. Many film-makers are visiting the state pavilion for queries regarding the facilities that the picturesque state would provide to them.
This year the IIFI also celebrates the golden jubilee of Manipuri cinema. On 9th April of 1972, the first Manipuri feature film, Matamgi Manipur was released. It was directed by Debkumar Bose. The journey of five decades of Manipuri cinema has been astounding and courageous, considering the resource-crunch, absence of investment on required technology and the lack of outreach mechanism to effectively reach to the audiences.
For the first time in at IFFI, to promote the film industry in the states, several state governments have installed their pavilion at the Film Bazaar. States such as Bihar, Manipur, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Delhi and Puducherry have installed their respective pavilion.
The theme of the Manipur pavilion is ‘Manipur Unexplored’, it has been managed mainly by the Manipur State film development Society. It calls out the budding filmmakers to explore the historical, archaeological, cultural and natural heritage of ‘the land of jewel’, Manipur. The aim is to attract film-makers and develop the state as preferable film-making destination.
The pavilion showcases natural beauty such as the Loktak Lake and the Keibul Lamjao National Park which is the only floating national park in the world. The pavilion also exhibits cultural wonders such as the Ima Market which is the only market in the world run entirely by women.
Sunzu Bachaspatimayum, Secretary, Manipur State Film Development Society highlighted that the Manipuri culture has rich tradition of story-telling. He cited the example of ‘Khongjom Parva’ which is the century old ballad singing tradition.
In 2020, the government of Manipur has come up with the state film-making policy. The policy, among other things, aims to incorporate the interest of the local people and stakeholders in the film-making process.
