Shillong, Oct 25: Pradip Kurbah, director of Iewduh, on Monday received the 67th National Film Awards for Best Khasi Film.
The film has been adjudged the ‘Best Khasi Film’ and also for the ‘Best Sound Recording’, making it the first movie from the North East to receive the top award in this category.
Commenting on the development, producer Shankar Lall Goenka said, “This is a landmark achievement by the film. In fact, it is an important recognition for Khasi cinema. I humbly thank all the people associated with the film for making this possible.”
“Iewduh achieving the milestone of National Award for Best Sound Recording is also a matter of pride for the North East as this Khasi film is the only one so far from the region reaching to this level,” he added.
‘Iewduh’, also known as Bara Bazar, is one of the oldest and largest daily markets in Shillong. The film talks about the daily lives of the people in the market.
The film, produced under the banner of Shiven Arts, was premiered in India at the 21st Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival in October 2019. ‘Iewduh’ was also selected in the Indian Panorama at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Goa.
The film was commercially released in November 2019 across the North East and other parts of the country such as Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore and Kolkata.
In 2019, ‘Iewduh’ had won the prestigious ‘Kim Ji-seok Award’ at the 24th Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) in South Korea. ‘Iewduh’ had its world premiere at the BIFF.
The Khasi film has been released across nine leading Over-The-Top (OTT) platforms in South Korea.
“This award is for the people of Iewduh,” said Kurbah on Monday.
The Khasi film industry is still in a nascent stage and local filmmakers have challenges galore owing to lack of infrastructure and government help or a policy.
