Morung Express News
Kohima | July 9
The English Department of Baptist College, Kohima held its Literature Festival with the theme “Sharing Stories” at the college campus here on July 9. The small yet significant fest organised a variety of activities for literature lovers such as book fair, film screening, spoken word, conversation with writers, readers’ theatre, poetry reading etc.
At the film screening, three short films were screened - When the Soul of a Nation dies, a poetry film by Pareshar Baruah, Mari, a short film on the novel, and The Story of a House, a video portrait by Sesino Yhoshü Dimasha and Sophy Lasuh Kesiezie.
After the screening of the films, filmmaker Sesino Yhoshü Dimasha held a brief talk with the audience where students raised questions on her film, her take on television industry in Nagaland and her works on film making.
The film ‘The Story of a House’ is a five minute video portrait on the Angh, a Konyak Naga Chief whose house in Longwa is divided between India and Burma. The film which aims to put across the Naga identity despite the geographical divisions won the Best Director award during the ‘Film, Northeast 2016’ Festival in February in Itanagar, and further screened in several countries.
“This story is unique because of the fact that the international boundary runs through a house. It reflects the way we Nagas were divided against our will. Even though it is an international boundary, it doesn’t matter to us because we are still Nagas,” asserted Sesino while discussing on the making of ‘The Story of a House’.
On a question raised on what inspired her to be a filmmaker, Sesino narrated her childhood growing up in Kohima in the 1980s when Doordarshan was introduced and the only access to the world was through this medium of television for people in Kohima. “Television industry is almost non-existent in Nagaland,” said Sesino, who, however encouraged the students to pursue the many career options in television.
During the conversation with writers, Dr. Avinuo Kire, Vishü Rita Krocha and Chenonlo Woch interacted with the students and shared their early experiences on writing, the very limited scope of a writing career in Nagaland in the earlier years and how the concept of writing is changing from pleasure to career.
At the Spoken Word competition, students presented poems on their original composition, poems by Naga writers as well as classics. In the closing act of the fest, special music was presented by Sanen Kichu, Junior String Ensemble and a narrative on storytelling was delivered by Nini Lungalang.
