National Film Award: ‘The Pangti Story’ wins best environment film

[caption id="attachment_176268" align="alignnone" width="500"] The Take One team (Left to right) Megotsolie Dolie, Sesino Yhoshu and Neithonuo Tungoe.[/caption] Kohima Bureau Kohima, April 13 (EMN): The ‘story’ continues to be told. After winning the distinguished Golden Beaver Award at the 7th National Science Film Festival in 2017, ‘The Pangti Story’, a 26-minute film about a village's conservation efforts, has gone on to win the Best Environment Film (non-feature film) at the 65th National Film Awards which were announced on Friday at New Delhi.  The documentary was directed by Kohima-based filmmaker Sesino Yhoshü. The National Film Awards, put together by the Directorate of Film Festivals, will be presented by the President of India Ramnath Kovind on May 3 at an award ceremony in New Delhi. The makers of ‘The Pangti Story’ will be receiving the award alongside big names in the Indian film industry. Bollywood greats Vinod Khanna and Sridevi Kapoor have been posthumously honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke and Best Actress Award, in that order. ‘The Pangti Story’ is an offshoot of a personal admiration that a village of hunters could come together to become conservationists, says Sesino, who leads a production team, the Take One Production. A lot has been said and written about the Amur Falcons, the migratory birds that come to roost in Nagaland every year, specifically in the forested regions of Pangti village in Wokha district, from Siberia to South Africa via India and back. The village has gained accolades for its effort to protect the annual aerial visitors. But what most people are not aware is that for Pangti villagers, it is not just a story of hunters who became protectors, but a struggle in their having to deviate from a major livelihood source. ‘The Pangti Story’ explores the story about what brought down figures of over 15,000 birds being killed every day before 2012 then, to zero killing.  in conjunction with the transition of an entire village from one that slaughtered thousands of the winged visitors to becoming a most fervent preservationist. The film highlights how in 2012 Nagaland made global news for the wrong reasons: thousands of the small raptors were being mercilessly hunted. A massive campaign to save these birds was launched. The film talks about how Pangti transformed from a killing field into a safe haven for the birds within a span of two years. The main subjects of the documentary are the people who saw and experienced the transition, reflecting on what it took to bring the massive falcon harvest to a halt. It focuses on the stories and people who made history. The film reveals also how, despite various accolades, Pangti villagers are still struggling for an alternative means to earn livelihood. The film, a presentation of the Public Service Broadcasting Trust (PSBT) also features the accounts of those who have been instrumental in bringing about the change in Pangti since 2012. They include Bano Haralu, the managing trustee of Nagaland Wildlife and Biodiversity Conservation; Steve Odyuo of a group called the Natural Nagas; Pangti village council's leader (2012-16) Ronchamo Shitiri; and now retired Principal Chief Conservator of Forests of Nagaland M Lokeswara Rao. Speaking to Eastern Mirror after the national awards were announced on Friday, an elated Sesino said she was ‘totally taken by surprise’ by the recognition. “I am so humbled and so grateful to God. When our producer from PSBT contacted us earlier for an entry for the film awards, I thought, ‘How can we win a national award?’.....Today, we feel so humbled and grateful,” she said. The young filmmaker and a mother of two said also that the award was a great boost for her team as well as for aspiring filmmakers. She said her team’s research work to Pangti had been ‘very enlightening’ and asserted that the process of conservation and educating children about conservation should continue. “I’m elated, humbled and so grateful to god. This is such a huge boost and encouragement for us. We hope to continue telling stories of ordinary people with extraordinary stories!” said Neithonuo Tungoe, the editor of The Pangti Story. “This (film) was a concerted effort of our small team. We gave our best and we did it! I’m very happy,” was what Megotsolie Dolie, Take One's cinematographer had to say about winning the national awards. The makers of The Pangti Story will be honoured with the Silver Lotus Award (Rajat Kamal) and a cash prize. The entries for the award were judged by eminent filmmaker Shekhar Kapur who led the feature film central panel and Nakul Kamte leading the non-feature film category. Gauthami, Imtiaz Hussain, lyricist Mehboob, P Sheshadri, Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury, Ranjit Das, Rajesh Mapuskar, Tripurari Sharma, and Rumi Jaffrey were the other members of the jury.