Amid the traumatic, communal crisis that Manipur is currently going through, a Manipuri feature film by Aribam Syam Sharma, ‘ISHANOU’ has be recognised as World Classic.
The film that deals with the Maibi culture of Manipur, starring Anoubam Kiranmala and Kangjam Tomba has been officially selected in the Cannes Classic Section of the Festival de Cannes, France, to be held from May 16 to 27, said a release.
It stated that the Cannes Classic section that selected ISHANOU comprises restored film classics belonging to the history of cinema and notably to the history of the Festival de Cannes.
Produced in 1990, the 91 minutes feature was previously an official selection to the Un Certain Regard section of Festival de Cannes in 1991, it said, adding that the MSFDS initiated the ambitious restoration project of Ishanou in association with Film Heritage Foundation, Mumbai and Aribam Syam Sharma.
Ishanou is only the second celluloid Manipuri feature film that the SN Chand Cine Archive and Museum of MSFDS has digitised and the first film to have been restored, it added.
The film Ishanou revolves around a female protagonist named Tampha, her husband and her children. Their lives are disrupted by a sudden change when Tampha leaves her family in search of the Maibi Guru whom she thinks has chosen her to be the matriarchal religious sect of Maibis.
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