Manipuri documentary film-maker Haobam Paban Kumar was awarded the first Bala Kailasam Memorial Award (BKMA) on Monday.
The award, instituted by Cinema Rendezvous Trust to celebrate Bala Kailasam’s spirit and vision, honours innovative use of media towards social causes. Haobam’s Phum-Shang (‘Floating Life’), a 52-minute film produced by Film Division, is an investigation of the fishermen communities and their floating dwellings on Loktak Lake in Manipur.
Receiving the award on behalf of the film-maker, the project’s sound engineer Sukanta Majumdar said, “The lake has an interesting character. It has biomass floating for many years, on which huts have been erected by fishermen.”
In 2012, the State government burnt down hundreds of huts, thus displacing thousands of fishermen. “These stories need to be told,” added Sukanta, who is working on a feature film on the same subject.
The award, which carries a citation and a cash prize, is instituted to celebrate the late TV professional and activist documentary film-maker BK (Bala Kailasam), son of the late film-maker K. Balachander.
The BKMA is awarded to a work of an individual or organisation that makes use of media (social media, television, print media, radio and documentary) to create social change.
The citation for the print media category went to Frontline for its story on the ‘Great Sand Mine Robbery’.
