A tribal musical film showcasing tribal songs of the Nagas in North East India has been selected for screening at the 18th edition of the Lessinia Film Festival at Bosco Chiesanuova, Italy next week.

The musical film titled “Songs of Mashangva”, produced and directed by national-award-winning filmmaker from Manipur, Oinam Doren, will be shown in the “Competition” category at the festival which begins from August 18-26.

The film was shortlisted by the Lessinia Film Festival selection committee among works from 44 countries for the 18th annual Film Festival, sources said.
The film, “Songs of Mashangva”, had won the 58th national award and was screened at a number of prestigious film festivals around the world, including Indian Panorama 2011.

The film won rave reviews for its haunting soundtrack and the mesmerizing photography shot for about a year and half in some of the most exotic locations in Rajasthan, Shillong, Nagaland, Kolkata and a number of villages enveloped in fog in Ukhrul district of Manipur.

The idea for the musical film was conceived when Doren was doing his graduation in college in 2000 and heard Rewben Mashangva music, a composition of tribal melodious music for the first time.

The melodious tunes which Mashangva described as ‘Naga folk blues’ rooted to Tangkhul folk music, was a new genre of music the director had never heard before.
Eight years later, the father of Naga folk blues and the filmmaker met by accident in Shallow Rivers Studio at Imphal that led them to collaborate on three musical films of which the “Songs of Mashangva” is the first of the trilogy.