AGARTALA, May 30 ? A feature film in Tripura?s tribal language (Kokborak), Mathia, has been awarded the first prize in the feature film category at the 18th International Film Festival held in Warsaw from May 19 to May 25, the director of the film Joseph Pulinthanath said here on Thursday.
Festival director Ardrzej Jonuszewski in a communique from Poland informed director of the film Joseph Pulinthanath that Mathia had been awarded the first prize in the feature film category for its ?realistic depiction of the culture and heritage of a community in India?, the director said.
The story of Mathia was derived from a tribal folklore about two people - Banthu and Kwachwngti - who dreamt of marrying against the will of villagers. But the superstitious villagers branded Kwachwngti, the beautiful girl as a witch and decided to kill her.
The 130-minute-long story of the two love-lorn tribals ends with Kwachwngti being taken for facing the death sentence and Banthu remained standing, speechless. Earlier, Mathia was screened in Kolkata during the international cinema conference in February this year.