Documentary On Gotipua Wins Best Documentary At CNFF Guwahati

Documentary On Gotipua Wins Best Documentary At CNFF Guwahati

‘Through The Eyes Of An Artist’ is a documentary film that pans through the life of National Award-winning Gotipua guru Late Birabara Sahoo. It won the Best Documentary Award at the Chalachitram National Film Festival (CNFF) at Guwahati this Sunday. Earlier, the film was screened at the ‘Chennai International Film Festival’ and JDCA’s ‘Art and Artist’ event recently, where it was much appreciated by the audience.  

Helmed by young filmmaker Abhishek Swain, this documentary features the legendary guru who had dedicated eight decades of his life to the art and tradition of Gotipua. The film focuses on the late guru’s point of view as it explores different ancient art forms of Odisha.

While attending a cultural program with researcher Dr Kalandi, Abhishek saw a troupe of kids performing Gotipua dance. Dr Kalandi told him a few interesting facts about the origins of this dance form, which fascinated him a lot.

Abhishek then set out to explore more about this ancient dance form to Tinkipada village in Balipatana where a group of Gotipua dancers were living. There he met guru Birabara Sahoo.

“After knowing about the rich Odia culture, I was deeply fascinated to make a film on the subject. This is just the beginning of the journey of this film. I hope it will reach more people and get more applause.” said Abhishek, who had earlier made some short films like ‘Life Drop’, ‘A Daughter’s Letter’ and ‘Few Miles Away’.

While the owner of ‘Prelude Productions’, Satyabrat Sanu Ratho, took the responsibility to present the film, it has been produced by researcher Dr Kalandi Charana Sahoo and Sheikh Gulzar Husain. Kisaloy Roy has scored the music and also crafted the sound design. Along with Abhishek, the technical team also includes Suraj Pattanayak, Harish Mohanty and Bishnu Prasad Mohanty.