austraLasia #2249
Local
culture and language effectively promoted by Salesian FIlm Director's
continuing success
AGARTALA (iNDIA), 8th September 2008 -- Some good news from
India to balance the essential telling of more tragic ones (Orissa
#2240. 2247; the Bihar State news is adequately covered in the world's
media). A large gathering of
film lovers of the city mainly from the tribal communities recently the
premiere showing, 4th September, of the 95-minute film Yarwng (Roots),
released
in 35mm celluloid produced by Fr. K.J. Joseph sdb and directed by Fr.
Joseph Pulinthanath sdb. SIGNIS, the official
Communication body of the Catholic Church, MISSIO and the Salesian
Society part-financed the making of the film. The film is an
absorbing treatment of the large-scale
displacement of peoples caused by the Gumti Hydel project in Tripura
decades ago. With its byline, 'a romance on the idyllic banks of Raima
and Saima, swept away by the floodgates of Change', the film is an
engrossing study of love, loss and never-ending hope. Two Cabinet
Ministers of
Tripura's Marxist Government, also lauded the Catholic Church's
commitment to the preservation and promotion
of local cultures and languages in the Northeast Indian state of
Tripura.
Referring
to the
earlier, award-winning film of Sampari Pictures, 'Mathia', Mr.
Sarkar, the Minister for Information, Culture and Tourism said,
"Thanks to Mathia, the Kokborok language is known today
beyond the confines of the state and the country." Quoting the example
of some
South American tribes that 'cannot even cry in their own language'
(according to him), Mr.
Sarkar, a renowned poet, said it is a 'national shame' when
any tribe, however small, loses its language. Recalling how Christian
missionaries have always been committed to promotion of Culture and
language in the past, Mr. Sarkar praised the use of the medium of
'film'
by the Church as it will 'directly strengthen culture and language of
the
peoples'.
Bishop Lumen Monteiro of
Agartala who was a guest of honour at the function reiterated the
resolve
of the Church to stand strongly with the weak, the poor and the
marginalized. Making of films like Mathia and Yarwng,
therefore, are 'hugely meaningful and relevant activities' for the
Church, said the Bishop.
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Title: australasia 2249
Subject and key words: S Asia ING Film success
Date (year): 2008
ID: 2000-2099|2249
