Dominic Sangma On Fear Of Outsiders In Rare India-China Collaboration ‘Rapture’ – APSAs & Mumbai Film Festival
03.11.2023 - 12:13
/ deadline.com
Rapture, the second film from Indian filmmaker Dominic Sangma, is being presented with the Cultural Diversity Award at this year’s Asia Pacific Screen Awards.
The Garo-language film, which is the second in a trilogy set in Sangma’s home village, had its world premiere in Locarno film festival’s Cineasti del Presente strand; also played at Busan International Film Festival and is currently screening in the South Asia Competition of Mumbai Film Festival.
Set amongst the Garo community in Meghalaya, Northeast India, the story follows a ten-year-old boy, suffering from night blindness, who lives in a village that is gripped with fear as local people keep disappearing and rumours are spreading of kidnappers trafficking in human organs.
Making matter worse is the local priest who has prophesized that an apocalyptic darkness will consume the world, lasting for 80 days. In the midst of this paranoia, the boy witnesses an act that plunges him into a mystical world.
Backed by Hubert Bals, Visions Sud Est and Doha Film Institute, the film is produced by Sangma’s Anna Films with China’s Xu Jianshang and Sun Li; Indian producers Anu Rangachar, Harsh Agarwal, Aditya Grover and Stephen Zacharias; and Meghalaya-based Eva Gunme R. Marak, who is a patron of Northeast Indian arts.
Sangma graduated from Kolkata’s Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute and made his feature debut with Ma.Ama, which premiered at Mumbai film festival in 2018 and won best cinematography at Shanghai film festival. Deadline sat down with Sangma and Marak just before the film’s first screening in Mumbai.
DEADLINE: How does Rapture expand on the trilogy you started with Ma.Ama?
DOMINIC SANGMA: Ma.Ama explored my personal memories and family experiences