‘Under the Longpfuru Sky’ to compete at 4th South Asian Short Film Fest

 A documentary, “Under the Longpfuru Sky”, directed by Kivini Shohe and produced by Films Division India has been selected for competition at the 4th South Asian Short Film Festival 2021. The film will be screened at Nandan, Kolkata on November 18. 

The documentary focuses on the people of Mimi village area who are called Longphurrs on the Indo-Burma border of partitioned Nagaland in Pungro subdivision, Kiphire. The Longphurrs have eight villages in Nagaland and 11 villages in Myanmar. They come under the Yimkhiung (Yimchunger) tribe in Nagaland. 

Anchored through stories of migration, they continue to seek ancestral wisdom to sustain their self-sufficient existence and worldviews. Their relationship with the land runs deep; ecology is woven into tradition. They however, insist on continuing with their age-old traditions of bat harvesting despite pressure from authorities. 

As archaeologists work to place them on the charts of history, the indigenous Longpfurr Naga people are now faced with the inevitability of modernity—a modernity that insists on redundancy of the oppressed. ‘Under the Longphurr Sky’ takes a hike with the people of Mimi as they find their footing on the steep slopes and deep caves, they have called home since time immemorial. 

South Asian Short Film Festival is the biggest Short Fiction and Documentary Film Festival in Eastern India.  

The festival is organized by the Federation of Film Societies of India (Eastern Region) which will take place at Nandan, Kolkata from November 15 to 22. The festival was inaugurated on November 15 by Member of Parliament, Jarwar Sirkar and former member of Federation of Film Societies, Firdausul Hasan. The festival is showcasing 102 short fiction and documentary films in different sections. A high-profile international jury will evaluate the films in competition for different awards named after the great masters: Satyajit Ray, Ritwil Ghatak, Mrinal Sen and V Shantaram.