From Community Halls to IFFI, Mizo films goes the distance

 

When Mapuia Chawngthu finished his feature film Khawnglung Run in 2012, the first problem he faced was how and where to screen it. Khawnglung Run (The raid of Khawnglung) became something of a travelling show, beamed on the walls of community halls through laptops and projectors, the organisations paying him anywhere from a few thousand rupees in villages to a lakh or more in some of Aizawl’s larger, more prosperous neighbourhoods. On November 17, Khawnglung Run’s successful run took it all the way to Goa, making it the first Mizo film to feature at the International Film Festival of India. It was featured at the IFFI opening session titled ‘Focus North-East Cinema’.