(our Correspondent)
A traditional folktale from the Wancho community of Arunachal Pradesh’s Longding district is being adapted into an animated short film, marking the first animation project based on an indigenous story from the remote Patkai Hills near the India-Myanmar border. The film is currently being developed during a two-month workshop at Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology (SMI) in Bengaluru, a statement from Adivasi Arts Trust (UK), said on Wednesday.
The workshop is being conducted in collaboration with the Trust and the Bryan Guinness Charitable Trust (UK), bringing together four undergraduate design students and two young Wancho artists under the guidance of animation faculty member Vijay Punia.
The project traces its origins to Kamhua Noknu, one of the largest traditional Wancho villages in Longding district.
It began in 2019 when UK-based filmmaker and cultural researcher Jonathan Hope visited the village to document oral narratives narrated by village elders as part of his postdoctoral research hosted by the Anthropology department at North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU), in Shillong.
As part of the study, 32 stories were recorded from Kamhua Noknu and nearby villages.
Local school teacher Jatwang Wangsa translated the stories, which were later published in the book Myth, Memory and Folktale of the Wancho Tribe of Arunachal Pradesh by Niyogi Books in 2024.
The stories, preserved through oral tradition, reflect the community’s beliefs, customs and relationship with nature.
The second phase of the initiative began in 2020 with an animation workshop in Kamhua Noknu aimed at introducing local youth to filmmaking and animation.
Conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic, the workshop used the village school office as a workspace and relied on a solar-powered backup system due to unreliable electricity in the area.
Although 16 young people initially joined the programme, a smaller group of dedicated participants continued with the training and laid the foundation for the animation project. The workshop was later documented in the film Myths of the Wancho (2021). The team selected The Story of the Gourd for adaptation because of its importance in Wancho cultural traditions.
Narrated by the late Ngamchai Wangsa, father of Jatwang Wangsa, the story recounts the mythical creation of Wangham, regarded as the first village chief, and explores themes of community life, traditional agriculture, territorial disputes, governance and the relationship between people and their environment.
In March 2021, a pre-production workshop was organised at NEHU, bringing together students, researchers, media professionals and eight Wancho participants to develop the screenplay, storyboard, character designs and test animation sequences for the film.
The project, however, was delayed for several years due to administrative issues before receiving fresh financial support from the Bryan Guinness Charitable Trust.
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