Assamese cinema: 2017
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Xhoixoboite Dhemalite
Avijit Ghosh | Assamese film wins international award | Jul 01 2017 : The Times of India (Delhi)
Assamese feature film `Xhoixoboite Dhemalite' (Rainbow Fields) has earned the Best Foreign Film Award at the Hollywood International CineFest 2017.Written and directed by Bidyut Kotoky , the film stars Victor Banerjee in a key role.
“The movie is inspired by events I experienced as a child during the Assam Student Movement in the 1980s.It was filmed in Lakhimpur district, close to the AssamArunachal border,“ the 45year-old Guwahati-born director said over the phone.
“This film is about children growing up in violent places, witnessing brutality around them and how it affects them deeply , leaving an indelible mark on their growth,“ the festival's website, hicinefest.com, said.
“The award brings joy to everyone associated with the project, especially Bidyut, who's a very creative director.It is also a moment of celebration for the Assam film industry ,“ said Banerjee. He plays a grandfather adept in understanding child behaviour. The 70-year-old actor, renowned for his performances in ` A Passage to India' and `Ghare Baire', also runs a school for the blind in Assam.
“These are globalised times. Today quality Iranian films can be seen with sub-titles across the world. They make money and are appreciated, too. I thought why we couldn't do the same with an Assamese film?“ says Kotoky .
Cinema halls dwindle after ULFA ban on Hindi films
The Assam film industry has fallen on hard times. The number of cinema halls was around 150 nearly a decade and half ago when ULFA issued a diktat banning Hindi films in the eastern state.Bomb blasts in cinema halls followed scaring moviegoers away. This forced many theatres to close. Today there are fewer than 50 cinema halls and the returns are too low for even box-office successes to make money .
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Assamese cinema: 2017
