Garo filmmaker Dominic Sangma’s 100-foot journey on Cannes red carpet

NEW DELHI: As a child, he would sit during chilly winter nights in Meghalaya with a bonfire in attendance and listen to oral storytellers who would mostly forget when dawn decided to yawn and make its presence felt.

They just needed to be given rolled-up tobacco, and some local alcohol to invoke tales of the jungles coming to life, its mysterious creatures, and spirits breaking into a trance. Filmmaker Dominic Sangma was not even 10 years old at that time. But he was convinced that stories would drive his life.

Cut to the present: Even as his Garo language film 'Rapture' is being screened at more than 100 cinema halls in France and garnering international acclaim, he almost whispers, "But it is still about storytelling during those misty nights, no?" says Sangma, whose father and grandfather were also oral storytellers.

Smiling that he is still in shock considering none of the distributors picked up 'Rapture' even after it won the Cultural Diversity Award at the 16th Asia Pacific Screen Awards and premiered at the prestigious Locarno Film Festival last year, he recalls, "We were so disappointed and convinced that all our efforts had gone waste,' this pass-out from Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute (SRFTII), Kolkata, tells IANS.

'Rapture', with a certain rhythm 'guides' the audiences into the soul of Meghalaya's Garo Hills, exploring the intricate interplay between gullibility and tolerance within a rural village. Part of a trilogy based on his memories in his village, which he remembers vividly, the film is the second part of his trilogy after 'Ma. Ama' made five years ago. While 'Ma. Ama' was based on his family, 'Rapture' dwells on the memories of the people and the village where fiction also finds some space.

The break for 'Rapture' came when it was screened at the 'The Three Continents Festival in Nantes in France. "And we received an invitation from the prestigious 'Capricci', a French independent arthouse company of film production, distribution and sales. They represent high-end films from all around the world. Frankly, we had not even approached them during Locarno. The moment the mail came, I realized the film had finally found its destiny now, its journey."

 "The response from Indian critics has been overwhelming. 'Rapture' is now in the Indian top 10 of the International Film Critics Awards (FIPRESCI Prize)," said an utterly pleased Sangma.

Looking forward to releasing it in Meghalaya first, the director, who after first seeing moving images on a television wrote 'director' on the back of his school chair, says that while the first part of the trilogy 'Ma. Ama' was about his family and what happened to it, 'Rapture' captures memories from his village and fear; and the third untitled one is about 'beauty'.

When Sangma was making these films, he lived in Shillong and elsewhere, not his village, thus imparting himself a unique insider-outsider perspective. "This helped me - in fact, it is a theme I explore with my craft. You are born into rituals and traditions of the village, and when outside those atmospherics, you discern and distinguish yourself from that space and the way people there think."

For someone who made the first professional film in the Garo language 'Echoes', it is not surprising that some fantastic cinema made on a show-string budget is emerging from the North-East.

Directors like Rima Das, Pradip Kurbah, Bhaskar Hazarika and Haobam Paban Kumar are making extremely 'rooted' cinema which nevertheless finds resonance across the world.

"We are telling stories exclusive to our lands - you cannot just take the template and set it somewhere else. Thus, people get to see something very original, an experience they have not known before." (IANS)

Also Read: Meghalaya: Garo Director and Filmmaker Dominic Sangma Excluded From Cannes 2023

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