Four NESFAS PV Fellows bag prizes in the Short Videography Competition on ‘Indigenous Technologies of Meghalaya’.
As part of the ‘Festival of Scope for all Science Communication Popularisation and its Extension’ the State Council Science Technology & Environment (SCSTE), Meghalaya celebrated National Science Day at All Saints Hall Shillong, on the 28th of February 2022. There, the SCSTE gave away the prizes for the Short Videography Competition on the theme ‘Indigenous Technologies of Meghalaya’. Along with it, Meritorious Awards to students of SSLC and HSSLC, MBOSE 2021 examinations were also handed out. Dr. A Sinha, Associate Professor, Basic Sciences and Social Sciences Dept. NEHU and Dr. Pynshngain Marwein, Research Officer, Tribal Research Officer, were the guest speakers on the day and handed over the prizes to the winners.
Four NESFAS’ PV (Participatory Video) Fellows had participated in the Short Videography competition and all of them won prizes in different categories. ‘Eñ Khnam’ (fish trap), a film by NESFAS PV fellow Habandajop Lyngdoh was awarded the first prize in the Professional Category while ‘Millet Story’, a film by three NESFAS PV fellows, Bantei Syiem, Runsing Lyting, and Antony Lyngdoh came away with the second prize in the Amateur Category. Habandajop’s film was shot just before the harvest season of Millet in the Month of November 2021 over the course of a month-long duration. The film is an in-depth documentation about how people of Jaintia hills use their traditional expertise to trap fish, especially during the harvest season of Millet.
“I felt excited and surprised on hearing that I had won the 1st prize as I did not expect it.” Habandajop candidly shared after the prize distribution. He expressed his gratitude to NESFAS for the guidance the organisation has given to the PV fellows stating that he would have never come this far without NESFAS. He further stressed that documenting whatever Indigenous technology or traditions that are in practice at the present time should be a priority. “Most of the youths don’t notice our rich traditional knowledge and culture anymore and that is why documentation is so important.”
The Participatory Video Fellowship was initiated by NESFAS in 2020, funded by REC as part of the “No One Shall Be Left Behind Initiative”, with the aim to enable the promotion of indigenous young people to come forward and document indigenous food systems and traditions. In total, five fellows were part of the program out of which four participated in the aforementioned Short Videography Competition. The fact that rural youths have been given the training and the platform to produce award-winning films only goes on to show the importance of encouraging the youths to further document the various rich and sacred traditional systems of their own communities.
Dr. H.H Mohrmen, Chairman, NESFAS, was buoyed after hearing the results of the competition: “First and foremost it (winning the prizes) shows that our indigenous knowledge is second to none. It is equally important and now it is being recognized and respected. Sometimes, we tend to think that Indigenous knowledge is old and out of fashion but now we have realised that these are things we should take pride in, the knowledge of our ancestors has been handed down to us from generations to generations.” Bah Mohrmen said. The achievement has also spurred NESFAS to scale up the PV fellowship initiative after such positive results from the first batch. “We are more inspired now to encourage the fellows to document these traditional technologies because we have a lot of indigenous knowledge that is yet to be documented. Our efforts will be to document these indigenous practices that we have especially in our region.”
H.H Mohrmen, who is also the Secretary of the Society for Rural and Urban Empowerment (SURE) was particularly proud of the fact that the hard work and efforts of NESFAS on various fronts are being recognised by the government. He also pointed out that the fellows from the two teams are rural youths who previously had no knowledge of photography and videography. “The fact that they are getting these awards shows that if we give them the platform, rural youths can always perform and achieve. It is my strong belief that we should put more effort so that we can help bring out the indigenous knowledge that is still in the communities,” he added.
The other three PV fellows Bantei Syiem, Antony Lyndoh, and Runsing Lyting also expressed their elation in having jointly won the 2nd prize of the Amateur Category for their video titled ‘Millet Story’. Bantei Syiem revelled in the experience partaking in a completion such as this has given him stated that he would be extremely happy if more of such opportunities arise in the near future. Antony Lyngdoh, on the other hand, believes that the joint project of the three of them is just the small start to the much bigger picture and the journey that lies ahead. “We must be brave enough to withstand any circumstances so that we will achieve more in the years to come,” added Antony.
Runsing Lyting, spoke of his immense gratitude to the SCSTE for organising such a competition and giving them the opportunity to document traditional knowledge systems and present them in the form of visual storytelling. Taking huge heart in the achievement made by his team, Runsing concluded on a hopeful note that they would ‘receive many opportunities like these in the near future.’
