Regional movies have been setting milestones lately. Adding to the cards has been the spectacular debut of Dominic Megam Sangma’s, ‘Ma.Ama’. The title of the movie is difficult to be translated as Ma.Ama in literal meaning is ‘moan’ but if the word is split into two, the meaning is appropriate to the theme of the movie: ‘ma’ meaning mother and ‘ama’ meaning longing.
The story encircles around a 90-year-old man named Philip Sangma who is searching for his dead wife, Anna. The 123-minute film follows Philip’s quest to find the answers about his past, his memories connected with Anna and the inevitability of death. The film was shot in the director’s native village and the role of Philip Sangma is played by the director’s father himself with a lot of other non-professional casts comprising of his relatives.
The main casts of the movie are Philip Sangma, Brilliant Marak and Hailin Sangma. Director and screenwriter being Dominic Sangma himself, the film is co-produced by Anna Films and Toja Xavier.
Ma.Ama is the only Indian title selected for the international competition section at the Mumbai Film Festival and has swept away awards after Rima Das’s Village Rockstar. Certain scenes of the movie were unscripted and the cinematographer, Acharya Venu has impressively shot the moments in a realistic way.
Presently, Dominic Sangma is the only Indian chosen for a film project at the Cannes film festival this year who is reportedly a graduate of the Satyajit Ray Films and Television Institute, Kolkata.
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