State-wise Chronicles, Part II: The Cinemas of the Hills

Chapter sections

3.1 Meghalaya, Nagaland and Mizoram: Collaborative Grassroots

The cinemas of Meghalaya, Nagaland and Mizoram have developed outside traditional commercial structures, relying heavily on local film collectives, church networks and community crowdfunding.

Meghalaya: Khasi and Garo Realism

In Meghalaya, directors like Pradip Kurbah and Wanphrang Diengdoh have established a cinema that blends contemporary social critique with Khasi oral folklore.

Pradip Kurbah: His landmark film Iewduh (2019) explores the human condition within the bustling, claustrophobic lanes of a traditional market in Shillong. Kurbah’s camera moves dynamically through narrow spaces, capturing high-contrast, documentary-style frames that emphasize community bonds. The film won the Kim Ji-seok Award at the 24th Busan International Film Festival, the first Indian regional film to do so, and was later acquired by Channel 4 (UK) and CM Pictures (South Korea). Kurbah’s 1998 debut Ka Mon Bajwat, produced by his father Pomu Das, was the first commercial Khasi film; its Khasi songs were sung by Bollywood singers Sonu Nigam and Mahalaxmi Iyer, and it ran nearly five months in Shillong theatres.
Wanphrang Diengdoh: His film Lorni – The Flaneur (2019) is a Shillong-set noir starring Adil Hussain as Shem, a self-styled detective investigating the disappearance of a culturally significant coral necklace. The film blends urban detective tropes with Khasi mythological symbols to examine identity and rapid modernization. It had its world premiere in the First Features Competition at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival and streamed on SonyLIV from September 2022.
Garo Cinema: Led by filmmakers like Dominic Megam Sangma (director of Ma.Ama, 2018 and Rimdogittanga/Rapture, 2023). Ma.Ama was the first Garo film to win a National Award (Best Feature Film in Garo, 66th National Film Awards). Rimdogittanga premiered at Locarno 2023, won Best Feature Film in Garo at the 71st National Film Awards (2025), and was released theatrically in France in May 2024 as a rare India-China co-production. Garo filmmakers have embraced a highly collaborative collective model, pooling equipment and volunteer labor to bypass industrial finance bottlenecks.

Nagaland: Visualizing the Margins

Nagaland’s cinematic landscape is characterized by its tribal diversity and strong documentary tradition, recently supported by the Nagaland Film Policy 2024 (notified 5 April 2025), which promises single-window clearances, training initiatives and anti-piracy measures.

Tiakumzuk Aier: Directed Nana: A Tale of Us (2017), which became a landmark as the first fiction feature film from Nagaland to achieve international screening. Aier won Best Director at the Edinburgh Festival of Indian Films and Documentaries (2017), and the film won Best Film (North East) at the 2021 Prag Cine Awards.
Theja Rio: His short films Angh (2021) and Ade (On a Sunday) (2024), both shot on 16mm film stock, examine the complexities of Naga history and village life. Angh won the Special Jury Award at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival; Ade had its world premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) and won Best Film at the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. Rio expanded Angh into a feature that premiered in the Platform Competition at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival, won the Platform Prize, and became India’s official entry for the International Feature Film category at the 2027 Oscars.
Technical Constraints: Nagaland lacks formal film schools and production labs. Filmmakers build capacity through informal apprenticeships, festival workshops and national training programs, treating documentary shooting as a form of social documentation and political resistance.

Mizoram: Church-Led Cinema

Mizo cinema presents a unique model where the local Presbyterian and Baptist church networks act as the primary funding, distribution and censorship apparatus.

Aesthetic Tone: Church-screened Mizo features are typically intimate family and social dramas, heavily grounded in Christian ethics and moral narratives.
Distribution: Because Mizoram has had almost no functional commercial cinema halls, films are screened in community halls and parish buildings, creating a highly localized, community-driven exhibition network.
The Cable TV Media Ecology: Alongside church screenings, Mizoram’s film industry is driven by local cable TV networks, specifically LPS and Zonet. These networks act as primary producers, licensing distributors and broadcasters. Filmmakers bypass theatrical releases entirely, submitting digital projects for cable-based video-on-demand (VOD) and advertising splits, creating a self-contained, television-first media ecology.

3.2 Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura and Sikkim: The Emerging Frontiers

Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura and Sikkim represent the newest frontiers of filmmaking in the Northeast, characterized by extreme linguistic diversity and late technological integration.

Arunachal Pradesh: The Multilingual Tapestry

Arunachal Pradesh has over 26 major tribes and 50 dialects. With no unified regional language, filmmakers must make highly deliberate choices regarding their linguistic medium.

Sange Dorjee Thongdok: Directed Crossing Bridges (2013), the first feature film in the Sherdukpen language, which won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Sherdukpen.
Aesthetic Approach: Due to the state’s mountainous terrain and scattered populations, theatrical exhibition is practically non-existent. Filmmakers rely on community screenings, portable projection systems and digital platforms to reach audiences.

Tripura: The Kokborok Movement and Language Preservation

In Tripura, the Kokborok language film movement developed as a form of cultural and political resistance against the linguistic dominance of Bengali in education and administration.

Dipak Bhattacharya: Directed Longtharai (1986), which is recognized as the first Kokborok-language feature film, adapted from Bimal Sinha’s novel.
Joseph Pulinthanath: Directed Mathia (The Scapegoat, 2004), which examined the social violence of witch-hunting and Yarwng (Roots, 2008), which won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in a language other than those in Schedule VIII, depicting the mass displacement of tribal communities caused by the construction of the Dumbur dam.
Monet Roy Saha: Directed Porobashi (2026), a Bengali/Kokborok bilingual crossover about a schoolteacher fleeing 1960s East Pakistan for Tripura. It competed in the Indian Language section of the 31st Kolkata International Film Festival and released theatrically in February 2026.
Exhibition Barriers and Activist Distribution: Operating on micro-budgets (under ₹15 lakh) funded by cultural bodies and NGOs, these films face systemic barriers in urban theaters (such as those in Agartala), which prioritize commercial Bengali and Hindi cinema. Consequently, Kokborok cinema relies on mobile projection squads who travel into rural tribal belts to set up screenings in school buildings, parish halls and outdoor clearings, functioning as an active tool for indigenous language preservation.

Sikkim: Ecological and Borderland Narratives

Sikkim’s cinema is deeply influenced by its borderland geography and its status as a fully organic state.

Satyajit Ray: Directed the documentary Sikkim (1971), showcasing the kingdom’s culture before its merger with India. The film faced a decades-long ban before being restored and screened.
Samten Bhutia: Directed Tara: The Lost Star (2024), a Nepali-language social drama selected for market screening at the Marché du Film, 77th Cannes Film Festival. Shot at Gnathang-Memenchu near Changu Lake, it was the first Sikkimese film to appear at Cannes.
Tribeny Rai: Directed Shape of Momo (2025), a highly acclaimed debut feature portraying three generations of Himalayan women. It had its world premiere at the 30th Busan International Film Festival (September 2025), winning the Songwon Vision Award and the Taipei Film Commission Award, then screened in the New Directors section at San Sebastián. Rai is a graduate of the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute.
Visual Tone: Wide, panoramic lenses capture the scale of the Kanchenjunga massif, using the natural environment as a silent narrator of geopolitical and environmental change.

3.3 Cinema Learning Context: Micro-Budget Film Economics

For film students, the hill cinemas of the Northeast offer invaluable lessons in micro-budget production economics and alternative distribution models.

For the general reader, creating a scene in Pradip Kurbah’s Iewduh required shooting inside a functional, chaotic market. The crew had to blend into the crowd, hide microphones under vegetable stalls and cast actual market vendors.

From the filmmaker’s perspective:

Chamber Drama Aesthetics: With limited budgets, filmmakers must learn to write stories that occur in restricted locations. Cinematographers must use fast prime lenses (like a 50mm f/1.8) to shoot wide open. This creates a shallow depth of field, blurring the background to isolate the characters while hiding the lack of expensive production design.
Shooting on 16mm Reversal Film: Theja Rio’s choice to shoot Angh on 16mm film stock brings a distinct, textured grain. This choice requires precise light metering, as film has less exposure latitude than modern digital sensors. The filmmaker must plan every shot to avoid wasting expensive film rolls.