Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Aug 22: Northeast will soon have a film institute of its own.
This was disclosed by Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh while felicitating Aribam Syam Sharma, world renowned “Grand Prix” and “National Award” winning film maker from Manipur, during the 3-day Northeast Film Festival being held at Siri Fort Auditorium here today.
Dr. Jitendra Singh said, the entire region of Northeast is bestowed with scenic beauty which can match with the most beautiful locations in the world, but unfortunately this vast potential of the region has remained under – utilized by the film industry. He thanked the Union Finance Minister and I&B Minister Arun Jaitley who was generous enough to include in the Budget the setting up of a Film Institute in Arunachal Pradesh. This will not only help in boosting the film industry in Northeast but would also facilitate film makers from Bollywood, Tollywood and other parts of the country to explore the exclusive locales of the region, he added.
During his felicitation speech after honoring Aribam Syam Sharma, Dr. Jitendra Singh said, Aribam’s work has reflections of some of the greatest Indian film makers like Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen and Adoor Gopalakrishnan. He said, just before the award ceremony, he had the opportunity of watching “Ishanou”, a 1990 production by Aribam which is not only rich in content and direction, but unlike most contemporary films, chooses the medium of visuals and silence to convey the theme instead of being loud or noisy. He suggested that the films made by Aribam and other film makers of the same genre should be dubbed into other Indian languages so that these get wider exposure both for the film maker as well as the quality of cinema being produced in Northeast.
Aribam thanked Dr. Jitendra Singh for his words of appreciation and also hailed his suggestion that films from the East deserve a wider exposure to the outside world.
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