Naawa Seidum wins ‘Best Narrative Film’ at MIFF, New York

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Jul 2: 'Naawa Seidum : The Bird Song' has won the Best Narrative Film at the Moment Invitational Film Festival, 2020 on Sunday-the premiere for which was held online.
The three-minute film is directed by Manipuri film maker Lawrence Chandam.
The fifth edition of the festival saw as many as 581 entries from around the world despite the Covid-19 pandemic.
The premiere is held in New York every year and each year the 15 finalists are invited to attend the event. However, this year owing to the pandemic, it was conducted online.
The Bird Song stars the talented Manda Leima and debutant Kabrabam Shinheiba. The film is an adaptation of the short story ‘A Blatant Lie’, by Dr BC Rajkumar. It is an evocative and endearing film of a compassionate young boy and his mother, who tries to shield him from learning that life is but transient.
The film is also a finalist at the Indie Short Fest, Los Angeles in the MicroFilm and Mobile Film categories and won the ‘Outstanding Achievement Award’ at the Tagore International Film Festival, Shantiniketan and is also in nomination for the yearly ‘Sun of the East’ award at the same festival.
The film was also awarded as winner by Calcutta International Cult Film Festival, 2020.
The film is entered in many other International Film Festivals like MiMo Milano Mobile Film Festival (Milan), Cinephone Smartphone Festival (Spain), SF3 Smartfone Flick Fest (Australia), Jaipur International Film Festival, the results of which are awaited.
This film is also the first Manipuri film on Xerb.tv – an American OTT Streaming platform for independent films.
The film was shot on a Samsung S9+ mobile phone and is a technical achievement in mobile filmmaking in the world.
'Naawa Seidum: The Bird Song' is produced by Imphal-based production company FastGlass Cinematics and Media. It takes pride in having an all Manipuri cast and crew. The cinematographer of the film is Binny Longmei, a renowned videographer from Imphal.
Amosana Thokchom, an alumni of FTII, worked as the production sound mixer on this film. Scoring was done by Tony Longmei and Aguian Kamei. Make-up and Costumes were done by Gyanand of Ehool fame.
This is the second film of Lawrence Chandam. His first film ‘Chara Ama’ won ‘The Best Indian Film’ at the My Rode Reel Film Festival 2019, Australia, which was organised by Rode microphones.
Lawrence has also worked as a VFX artist in New Zealand for 10 years and has worked in many international films and TV shows like Spartacus: War of the Damned, Ash vs Evil Dead TV Series, Katy Perry Music Video, and commercials for brands like Nike, Coca Cola and National Geographic. The film is now vying for the ‘People’s Choice Award’ in the Moment Invitational Film Festival.
The Naawa Seidum: The Bird Song team urges everyone to cast their votes at momentinvitational.com and support the movie. Voters have the chance of winning $10,000 worth of gear sponsored by Moment Lens, New York and also be a part of Lawrence Chandam’s next film production.