Imphal, March 8: A national award-winning Garo feature film ‘Rapture’ bagged the Best Film Award, while five Assamese films were honoured with different awards in the 5-day North East India Film Festival (NEIFF 2024), which concluded at the Manipur State Film Development Society auditorium in Imphal on Thursday evening.
The Best Film Award, which consists of a memento, a certificate, Lengyan, a traditional Manipuri scarf, and a cash prize of Rs 1.2 lakh, was received by Keri Padu during the day’s award distribution ceremony. The film ‘Rapture’ was directed by Dominic Sangma,a national award-winning filmmaker from Meghalaya.
The five Assam films that won different awards are Before Spring (Special Jury Award-),Gorai Phakri (Best sound award- Amrit Pritam and Debajit Changmai), Samarpan (Best editing award- Kuldip Baruah), Nellier Kotha (Best screenplay award- Parthajit Baruah), Before Spring (Best Cinematography Award- Jayant Sethu Mathavan) and Ata Nirjon Duporia (Special Mention award).
Except for the Special Mention Award and the Special Jury Award, all the awards mentioned above include a memento, a certificate, Lengyan and a cash prize of Rs 40,000 each. The Special Jury Award also includes a cash prize of Rs 30,000.
The Assamese film Before Spring is directed by Shrutismriti Changkakoti, while Ata Nirjon Duporiya is directed by Khanjan Kishore Nath.
The Best Director Award goes to national award-winning filmmaker Haobam Pabankumar for his 85-minute film ‘Joseph’s son'. Director Paban was awarded a cash prize of Rs 50,000, a memento, a certificate and Lengyan.
Padmashree Guru Rewben Mashangva, who plays a lead role in ‘Joseph’s son’ was also honoured with the Jury Award for Outstanding Performance.
Parthajit Baruah for Nellier Kotha, Best Cinematography by Jayant Sethu Mathavan for the film Before Spring, Best Editing by Kuldip Baruah for Samarpan and the Best Sound Award by Amrit Pritam and Debajit Changmai for Gorai Pakhri.
The 5-day NEIFF 2024, which commenced on March 3, was organised by THOUNA, Manipur, in association with the Film Forum Manipur, the Directorate of Information & Public Relations (DIPR) and Department of Art & Culture, Government of Manipur, under the sponsorship of Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India.
Commissioner (DIPR) M Joy Singh, Director (DIPR) Th Charanjeet Singh, Chairman (Film Forum Manipur) L Surjakanta Sharma, Chairman (Organising Committee NEIFF 2024) Y Nilachandra Singh, Jury Members, renown Film Makers from North East India, artists, invitees, and film lovers from the state were present during the day’s closing function.
