- NET Web Desk
Dr. Meena Longjam, an award-winning independent filmmaker and the first woman filmmaker from Manipur have served as a jury member in the feature/non-feature section during the 67th National Film Awards – the prizes for which was presented to the awardees at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi on Monday.
Meena received the national award in 2015 for the documentary film ‘Auto Driver’, award for which was presented by former Indian President Pranab Mukherjee.
The 30-minute documentary produced by her Film production unit Airameen Media is based on social issues and women empowerment.
The key theme of the story depicts the struggle and triumphs of Imphal’s first female Autodriver Oinam Laibi.
A post-graduate from the Madras Christian College, Meena have also worked as a freelance Scriptwriter and narrator at Doordarshan in Imphal.
Single-handedly raising her two kids, Meena have always aimed to portray the plight of women, and bring out the real-life issues.
She currently serves as the Head of Department (HOD) of Culture Studies, Manipur University of Culture.
A Doctorate in Philosophy (PhD) holder, Meena pursued her dissertation based on the life & films of eminent filmmaker, Aribam Shyam Sharma.
She have also researched on some unique aspects of Manipur culture, comprising – tradition of Lai-Haraoba, the ancient Sagol Kangjei ponies responsible for prominence of the modern sport of polo; role of Maibis (priestess) – their social standing; and distribution and cultural impact of the Manipur film industry.
Besides, the independent filmmaker have also worked on women’s issues, the impact of social media, folktales, and proverbs of the Meitei people of the plains.
Her works have been published in international academic journals like “Chinaky – A Research Journal on Humanities and Social Science,” newspapers, comics and books like “Aesthetics and Culture in Performing Arts,” “Globalisation to Glocalisation”, and many others.
Meena’s works have also been used as references in books like – “Media in Manipur” and “Knowing Manipur from the Endogenous Perspective”.
