Morung Express News
Dimapur | May 26
The arts – motion picture, theatre or music - transcend barriers irrespective of language, geographical or cultural distinctions, and can be instrumental in inspiring, provoking and invoking action for social change. With that in mind, the 9th Morung Lecture held on May 26 at the DABA’s Elim Hall focussed on bringing the arts to the fore and how it can impact social change. 
Three independent film-makers - Tiakumzuk Aier, the man behind Dreamz Unlimited; Sophy Lasuh and Sesino Yhoshu, the women behind the making of the award-winning ‘The Story of a House’ – helmed the lecture. The three recounted their experiences, their creative pursuits and how it relates to the audience it has exposed itself to.
“Story-telling is perhaps one of the oldest forms of art,” said Sophy Lasuh, while drawing a parallel between the oral tradition of telling stories and films.
After a two-year stint with Indian Television, Sophy Lasuh went back to college and completed her Masters in Film & Television from Edinburgh College of Art, Scotland, 2009. Her first short film with Sesino Yhoshu “The Story of a House” has been screened at various film festivals. It won a Best Director Award in the short film category at the North East Film Festival (2016). She currently runs a Production House and is working on a documentary, ‘Rone’.
Underscoring the impact of art as a medium of change, Lasuh brought up the aspect of objectivity and presenting the truth. Equating the arts, in her case – documentary film-making, to a “pursuit of truth,” she said that a film can be packaged in myriad different ways, while adding, “It may have humour, may have an artistic touch… at the core of it is the truth that people can relate to.” Her graduation film at Edinburgh College of Art, Scotland titled ‘Children of Silence’ focussed on the Oinam incident of 1987 and the subsequent military retaliation. She said that she opted to tell the Oinam story over the more famous Battle of Kohima. This, she did at the advice of her teacher at Edinburgh College, who exposed to her the importance of telling an untold story.
Sesino Yhoshu emphasized how motion picture can narrate a story and leave a lasting impression on the viewer. Her film, ‘The Pangti Story’ tracks the story of how an entire Naga village got sensitized to the idea of wildlife conservation; in her words, “The transition of a village from hunters to protectors…” to changing the concept of wildlife as a source of food to that of being protected.
Yhoshu, after completing her Bachelor’s degree in Mass Communication and Video Production from St. Anthony’s college, Shillong, specialised in Electronic Cinematography from the prestigious Film and Television Institute of India (FTII). She also went on to study Masters in Documentary by Practice from Royal Holloway, University of London, UK.
Her filmic interest lies in Video Portraiture. Her film ‘Apfütsa’, a video portrait reflecting on the time and space of her grandfather, was screened at the National Portrait Gallery, London, Bang Short Film Festival, Nottingham, University of Rochester, New York and Rubin Museum of Art, New York. Her other works include ‘The Imaginary Line’, and ‘Apfütsa’.
Dreamz Unlimited with its humourous and sometimes brazenly sardonic takes on the prevailing Naga societal mind-set is today a household name in Nagaland. Tiakumzuk recalled the birth of Dreamz Unlimited following a workshop conducted by the National School of Drama.
With no formal film-making background, Aier said that the early years were dominated by ‘Proscenium style’ stage production “with artistic touch.” He and his team’s exposure to theatre outside the state proved to be a learning curve, imbibing ideas and eventually Dreamz Unlimited in its present avatar.
“For us, we make comedy, try to make people happy and at the same time put in a message or two,” he said. This simple approach imbibing contemporary Naga nuances and paradoxes with comic relief certainly rang a chord with the audience. While the works of Dreamz Unlimited has resonated, he added that the biggest challenge early on was the opposition to his choice of profession – the viability of theatre in a place like Nagaland.
Dr. Aküm Longchari, Editor, The Morung Express, in his concluding remarks termed artists as “our conscious keepers and dream catchers”, and said that by acknowledging and unveiling the truth, the question or process of change will begin. Having said that he added that there is also the challenge of beginning “a new imagination without disconnecting from past memories.”
