Amid violence, Manipuri cinema 'Ishanou' included in Cannes Classic Section

Manipuri cinema got good news amid the ethnic violence that has kept the state on the boil since May 3.

Manipur State Film Development Society (MSFDS) said that Ishanou, the critically acclaimed Manipuri cinema, has been recognised as World Classic and included in the Cannes Classic Section of the Festival de Cannes, France, to be held from May 16 to 27.

Directed by eminent film maker, Aribam Shyam Sharma, Ishanou was released in 1990 and was selected for several important awards including the national film awards. The 91-minute feature film was previously an official selection to the Un Certain Regard section of Festival de Cannes in 1991.

Read | '23,000 flee violence in northeast India,' says army

The film, originally made in Meitei language, deals with the Maibi culture of Manipur, starring Anoubam Kiranmala and Kangjam Tomba. "The Cannes Classic section for which Ishanou has been selected comprises restored film classics belonging to the history of cinema and to the history of the Festival de Cannes," MSFDS said in a statement on Saturday.

The MSFDS initiated the ambitious restoration project of Ishanou in association with Film Heritage Foundation, Mumbai and Aribam Syam Sharma. Ishanou is only the second celluloid Manipuri feature film that the SN Chand Cine Archive and Museum of MSFDS have digitised and the first film to have been restored, it said.