Haobam Paban Kumar’s 3rd narrative feature in Manipuri language, Joseph’s Son, is set to have its world premiere at the 25th Shanghai International Film Festival 2023, which is scheduled to be held from June 9 to 18, 2023 in China.
The film will be screened in the main competitive section for The Golden Goblet Award at Shanghai Film Art Centre on June 13, the Film Society of Manipur stated.
India’s lone entry Haobam Paban Kumar’s Joseph’s Son will vie with 11 films at the 25th edition of Shanghai International Film Festival.
The other 11 films include Japanese veteran filmmaker Yoji Yamada’s ‘Mom, Is that you?!’, Kazuyoshi Kumakiri’s ‘Yoko’, Liu Jiayin’s ‘All Ears’, Jonathan Li’s ‘Dust To Dust’ and Chen Shizhong’s ‘Good Autumn, Mommy’, Spanish director Marta Lallana’s ‘Muyeres’, Belgium director Dominique Deruddere’s ‘The Chapel’, Italian filmmaker Paolo Genovese’s ‘The First Day Of My Life’ and United Kingdom director Connor O’Hara’s ‘ Kindling’, Oksana Bychkova’s ‘Nina’ and Iranian film The Annoyed by Mehdi Fard, it stated.
It may be mentioned that The Golden Goblet Award for Best Feature Film is the highest prize awarded to competing films at the Shanghai International Film Festival.
Joseph’s Son is about the journey of a father in search of his missing son in ethnic clashes in Manipur, the Film Society of Manipur mentioned in a release.
“My film might be among the few Indian films to talk about the ethnic and armed conflict that is unique to my birthplace Manipur, a State in Northeast India bordering Myanmar. As a storyteller, it is important that my films reflect my contemporary realities. Manipur is home to the majority community Meiteis and 35 different tribes, each with its own language, culture and traditions,” Paban says.
Guru Rewben Mashangva is the main protagonist of the 83-minutes long film- Joseph’s Son produced by the National Film Development Corporation Limited and co-produced by Oli Pictures, it stated.
The film is based on the original story written by Sahitya Akademi Award winner Sudhir Naoroibam, it mentioned.
Camera is handled by Joydeep Bose, sound by Sukanta Majumdar, editing by Sankha, the screenplay is handled by Sudhir Naoroibam and Haobam Paban Kumar and the direction is given by Haobam Paban Kumar.
Ch Inaobi is the art director, while Victor Thoudam is the casting director, it added.
This Manipuri film consists of different languages in Manipur namely Tangkhul, Meitei, Thadou Kuki and Rongmei languages.
There are different characters from various communities of Tangkhul, Meitei, Thadou Kuki, Rongmei and Bihari in the film, it further stated.
The main protagonist Guru Rewben Mashangva, director Haobam Paban Kumar and the executive producer PP Math have been invited to attend the film festival at Shanghai, it added.
Also Read: All must help restore peace in Manipur: Filmmaker Paban Kumar
