Manipur Marks a Triumphant Return to Indian Panorama at 56th IFFI

Imphal: After a silent year in the cinematic wilderness, Manipur returns to the Indian Panorama with renewed brilliance. In a statement, the Manipur State Film Development Society (MSFDS) announced that two Manipuri films — one fiction, one documentary — have found their rightful place at the 56th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2025.

For Manipuri cinema, long known for its quiet persistence, this moment feels like dawn after a long monsoon night.

Filmmaker Borun Thokchom’s Battlefield, an 80-minute feature-length documentary on the forgotten war that raged across Manipur’s hills and valleys in 1944, has been officially selected in the non-feature section. Side by side, debutant director Dinesh Naorem’s Oitharei (“Save My Soul”) has entered the feature section, marking a powerful return of Manipuri fiction to the national stage.

It is a homecoming of sorts. Andro Dreams was the last Manipuri documentary to grace the Indian Panorama in 2023, while Oitharei ends a seven-year drought for Manipuri feature films — the last being Eigi Kona (Stallone, My Pony) in 2019, directed by Maipaksana Haorongbam and Bobby Wahengbam.

Image: Working stills from award winning ' Oitharei '

Image: Stills from award winning ' Oitharei '

“This is indeed a moment of celebration,” said the Secretary of MSFDS. “The achievements of Borun Thokchom and Dinesh Naorem reaffirm that Manipuri cinema continues to stand tall — resilient and creative — despite the odds. They have rekindled faith that our stories, grounded in truth and courage, will always find their way to the world.”

Significantly, Battlefield was born in the creative crucible of MSFDS’ “Imphal Documentor”, a five-day project development lab held in collaboration with the Documentary Resource Initiative (DRI), Kolkata, in 2022. This initiative, one of several by MSFDS to nurture filmmakers, has become a seedbed for both documentary and fiction storytellers. Through mentorship and incubation, the Society continues to strengthen the roots of Manipuri cinema — ensuring that the voices from its hills, valleys, and memoryscapes are not lost to silence.

Video: Film Maker Mr. Borun Thokchom 

Video: Film Maker Mr. Dinesh Naorem

Shot over ten years, Battlefield journeys through the remnants of the Second World War scattered across Manipur. Featuring war researcher Rajeshwor Yumnam, the film unearths stories of courage, loss, and remembrance — contrasting the grand memorials of distant lands with the quiet neglect of the battle-scarred Manipuri soil. Produced by Manjoy Lourembam, Dr. Radhesyam Oinam of Network Services Imphal, and Viswamithra Universals, the film will have its world premiere at IFFI 2025 in Goa from November 20–28.

Oitharei, on the other hand, tells a different kind of war — the inner war of a widow displaced and haunted by the ethnic unrest that has scarred Manipur since 2023. It is a tale of survival and loss, told with the tenderness and truth that mark the best of Manipuri cinema.

Image: Stills from award winning ' Oitharei '

The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has announced 25 feature films and 20 non-feature films as part of the Indian Panorama this year. Among them, Battlefield and Oitharei stand as beacons — testaments to a small state’s unbroken creative will.

Once again, Manipuri cinema rises — from memory, from conflict, from silence — reminding the nation that stories from its edge often hold the heart of its truth.