Rono Hills, Mar 23: Invocation chants signifying blessings  by the lamas of the Thuntan Gatselling Gonpa, Itanagar, marked the inauguration of Borderland Narratives, the three-day festival of films from contemporary Northeast India here today at the RGU campus. .
19 filmmakers representing the 8 states in the region have arrived at the festival to share their films and to have extended interactions with the audience.
Speaking on the occasion, Chief Patron of the Festival and RGU Vice-Chancellor Professor Saket Kushwaha commended the partnering organizations for the initiative. Elaborating on the role that cinema has on society, he said that films have the real potential for bringing out the ‘post-truth’. “On the one hand, they bring out the practices and the truth from the past and from the existing cultures, and on the other, they also bring out trends to the people and we learn a lot from that,” VC  said.
Regional Director, Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts, NERC, Guwahati Richa Negi, expressed pleasure and gratitude to be a part of the important event, saying “it is a landmark in itself”.  “At the moment IGNCA is in the process of signing MoUs with various Universities all over the country to conduct study in areas of mutual interest,”she said adding that the IGNCA was looking forward for a long term collaboration with Rajiv Gandhi University.
Director AITS and Festival Director Professor Simon John, said that the aim of this festival is to bring the filmmakers from the region together on one platform. “We are currently focusing on the film makers and directors of North-East India who are making films of different communities and in engaging new ways.” he said.
Introducing Borderland Narratives 2019, Festival Director Moji Riba saluted the filmmakers who are attending the festival and said that art has a responsibility to shape the way society evolves.
As part of the programme, Vice-Chancellor Kushwaha and founding Director of the AITS Professor Tamo Mibang released the newsletter of the Centre For Endangered Languages as well as the Festival Booklet.
On the opening day, films that were screened included ‘Those Songs and Lullabies I Used To Sing’ by Kombong Darang (CFEL, RGU), ‘Loktak Lairembee’ by Haobam Paban Kumar (Manipur), ‘Nana’ by Tiemsumuk Aier (Nagaland), ‘Songs of the Blue Hills’ by Utpal Borpujari (Assam) and ‘Ralang Road’ by Karma Takapa (Sikkim). RGU Press Release  

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
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