Noted filmmaker Haobam Paban Kumar's second feature Nine Hills One Valley (2020) which evokes the futility and barbarism of ethnic conflict through the journey of a Tangkhul man travelling to Imphal City bagged the ‘Special Mention’ award in the Ottawa Indian Film Festival Awards 2022 held from June 14 to 18 in Ottawa, the capital of Canada.
In this fifth edition of Ottawa Indian Film Festival, Nine Hills One Valley was selected in the competition section with 11 other films.
Anam Ahum is the main protagonist of the 75th–minute long 'Nine Hills One Valley' produced by Warepam Jhansirani and Haobam Paban Kumar for Oli Pictures. National Film Awardee Irom Maipak and Ranjan Palit are the cameramen. Sound is done by Sukanta Majumdar and Editing by Sankha and Story, Screenplay and Direction by Haobam Paban Kumar.
An accomplished documentarian, a director of two non-fiction features and six shorts since 2005, Haobam Paban Kumar is a prominent voice coming out of the restive Northeastern Indian state of Manipur.
He also dabbles in the art of fiction storytelling. His debut fiction feature, Lady of the Lake (Loktak Lairembee), was featured at the 67th Berlin Film Festival in 2017. Nine Hills One Valley is his second narrative feature. Winner of the Special Jury Award at the 14th Manipur State Film Awards, the film was selected for the Jogja NETPAC Asian Film Festival, the International Film Festival Trissur, the Kolkata International Film Festival and as part of the India Gold section of the Mumbai Film Festival.
A release issued by president of Film Society of Manipur, Meghachandra Kongbam said that according to Haobam Paban Kumar himself, “Nine Hills One Valley is his personal journey about his intrinsic dilemma of being born in a place like Manipur, which is absorbed into the tapestry of the diversity of indigenous people. Here, people aspire to reach out for an elusive harmony while standing up each day for their forest and land and culture. This film was made during the distressing solitude of the Covid pandemic.”
Haobam Paban Kumar is one of the leading independent filmmakers of India who was honoured with the title 'Legend of Indian Cinema' by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India in the 50th International film festival of India 2019.
