Press Release 8 March 2012
On Holi in Imphal most women are out and about in their phaneks, and a personal thought is that the Mayek Naibi, the stripy one, will be most remembered from Manipur – and so I am disappointed that the “Mother” must wear a plain phanek to be appropriately dressed inside the home.
The project is also supported by the Government of Manipur, Manipur Films Division and the Adivasi Arts Trust (UK). The film will be a Manipuri production.
A group of young Manipuri artists have gathered for three weeks to attend an Animation Workshop supported by the Government of Manipur, Art and Culture Department.
The artists are exploring ways of revitalizing their culture. They are looking at the rich heritage of folk art and oral in Manipur for inspiration. The brief was to choose a folktale and then to set about adapting it for a short animation film. The chosen tale is a series of anecdotes about the mysterious “Tapta”, well remembered from childhood by people in Manipur. The visualization process is now taking place and a storyboard that shows the sequences of the film has been drawn. Characters and background designs are drawn in ink, incorporating patterns identified in the ancient illustrated manuscripts of Manipur. The team is organising itself for the various tasks that go into animation production. With only one more week to go for the workshop, the aim is to make an animatic (filmed storyboard) and to complete a test sequence of animation.
The artists are exploring ways of revitalizing their culture. They are looking at the rich heritage of folk art and oral in Manipur for inspiration. The brief was to choose a folktale and then to set about adapting it for a short animation film. The chosen tale is a series of anecdotes about the mysterious “Tapta”, well remembered from childhood by people in Manipur. The visualization process is now taking place and a storyboard that shows the sequences of the film has been drawn. Characters and background designs are drawn in ink, incorporating patterns identified in the ancient illustrated manuscripts of Manipur. The team is organising itself for the various tasks that go into animation production. With only one more week to go for the workshop, the aim is to make an animatic (filmed storyboard) and to complete a test sequence of animation.
The chosen technique for the sequence uses handmade 2 dimensional cut out puppets for the characters that will be manipulated with software in multiple layers.
Cultural experts are providing advice to maintain accuracy in the depiction of traditional Manipuri culture in the animation film. Details of the costumes are debated at length and it has now been accepted that Mother in the story will be wearing a plain single coloured casual phanek (sarong) rather than the popular striped “fancy” Mayek Naibi. There is no other design, floral or otherwise on the main body of the phanek, but there is a strip or edge. Traditionally the phanek was worn without a blouse, above the breast with the upper body covered with an upper cloth folded across the shoulder. Khelen Thokchom writes “Phanek, the traditional women’s wear of Manipuri women, has become the new flag of protest in a state where mass movements thrive on the extensive use of symbolism”. (The Telegraph, 2009) It is also said that according to Meitei tradition, men also do not pass under a rope or a bamboo bar on which a phanek is hung, and that if a woman flings a phanek at a man in public, it is considered to be the most extreme form of humiliation for him.
On Holi in Imphal most women are out and about in their phaneks, and a personal thought is that the Mayek Naibi, the stripy one, will be most remembered from Manipur – and so I am disappointed that the “Mother” must wear a plain phanek to be appropriately dressed inside the home.
The project is also supported by the Government of Manipur, Manipur Films Division and the Adivasi Arts Trust (UK). The film will be a Manipuri production.
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