Rare intertiol honour for Assamese feature film

GUWAHATI, July 4: Assamese feature film Kothanodi (The River of Fables) has been selected by the Asian Cinema Fund, South Korea, for its Post Production Grant 2015. This is the first time that an Assamese film has been selected for the prestigious grant, and Kothanodi is only the second film from India to receive this honour in the history of the Grant.

The Asian Cinema Fund offers the film with the opportunity to complete its post-production in Korea, and then have its world premiere in Asia’s biggest film festival, the Busan Intertiol Film Festival, schedule to held in October this year.

Speaking to jourlists, Kothanodi director Bhaskar Hazarika said, “Kothanodi has been a testing project, considering the scale of the film. The ACF grant validates the hard work and dedication of the crew over the past three years, and ensures the film’s fil look will meet intertiol benchmarks.”

Kothanodi has been written by Hazarika, with dialogues by Assamese novelist and Sahitya Akademi awardee Arupa Patangia Kalita. The film stars Seema Biswas in her first major role in an Assamese film, along with Adil Hussain, Zerifa Wahid, Kopil Bora, Urmila Mahanta and Asha Bordoloi.

Speaking about the film’s Assam release, Hazarika said, “After the world premiere in Busan in October, we plan to seek an India premiere at the Intertiol Film Festival of India in November, after which we shall aim for a tionwide release.”

Based on events and characters in Rasaraj Laxmith Bezbarua’s Buri Aai’r Xadhu, Kothanodi has been produced by Dergaon-based Anurupa Hazarika, and was in the news last year for successfully running one of Indian cinema’s biggest crowdfunding campaigns.