‘Lichaba’s Daughter’ screened at 3rd International Film Fest In Moscow

Lichaba’s Daughter, the howey musical of Abiogenesis Production, Nagaland was screened at the 3rd International Film Festival Days Of Ethnographic Cinema on September 28, the Indian Day of the week long festival held at Moscow House of Nationalities in Central Moscow from September 24 – 30.

The other two Indian films selected and screened on the Indian day were Vastu Maratra (Sculpter’s Speak) directed by Bala Kailashan from Tamil Nadu who unfortunately couldn’t attend and Aachuloy- Victory To You (a documentary on the Lepchas of Sikkim) of Freebird Production, Kolkata. The Indian Day of the festival has been introduced for the first time only this year.

In between each screenings, discussions were held where the audience put up questions on the films to the Indian delegates.

Abiogenesis Production was represented by the film script writer and director Arenla M. Subong and the producer Moa Subong and Freebird Production was represented by the director Ladly Mukhopadhyay.

Right after the screenings, a seminar was held at a smaller hall in the same building to a select audience where clippings from Freebird Production and one of India’s renowned film maker Satyajit Ray’s documentary on Sikkim were shown.

A lot of misconceptions that Nagas were earlier cannibals were made clear through the film that Nagas at no point of time have ever eaten human flesh and that Tsungrola, the leading character in the film who came from the heavens was sent away from the Naga village because she in hiding used to eat human flesh and her husband found that out one fine day.

The Indian delegates had on September  27 interacted with the students and faculties of the Center of The Study of Religion, The Russian State University of The Humanities, Moscow who were also made to speak on the religion of their respective states and on September 29 could experience the interior of Russia as they were taken to Chublovo village.

The festival is a concept of the Russian Institute of Cultural Reasearch, Likhachev Russian Research Institute of the Cultural and Natural Heritage, S.A. Gerasimov All-Russian State University of Cinematography and National Association of Audiovisual Archives with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, the Italian Institute of Culture in Moscow, Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Moscow, Polish Cultural Center in Moscow, Goethe German Cultural Center in Moscow, the Royal Danish Embassy in Moscow, Russian State University for the Humanities, National Center for Contemporary Arts, Moscow State Central Cinema Museum and the Polytechnic Museum.