Imphal, Sept. 6: Manipur's well-known documentary filmmaker Haobam Paban Kumar's debut feature film, Loktak Lairembi (Lady of the lake), will have a world premiere in the 10-day 21st Busan International Film Festival, which will begin on October 6.

Having a world premiere of the feature film is another feather in Paban Kumar's cap after his documentary, Phum Shang (Floating life), won the Best Medium Length award in the 18th International Environment Film and Video Festival in Brazil last month.

The 71-minute Loktak Lairembi will be screened on the third day of the festival.

Nilotpal Majumdar, director of newly opened Manipur State Film and Television Institute, said Loktak Lairembi is the first film from the Northeast which got a world premiere.

"It is a proud movement for Manipuri film and also for the region. Busan is one of the most prestigious international film festivals. It will give a big boost to Northeast cinema," Majumdar, who had taught Paban Kumar in Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, Calcutta, said.

The film is based on life in the Loktak lake and the prevailing conflict situation in Manipur. It tells the story of a fisherman named Tomba, who lives with his family on a hut constructed on phum (floating biomass)in Loktak. He faces constant threat of eviction by the government.

This fear keeps him confined to his hut while his wife, Thambalsang, toils to make a living.

One day, he finds a gun hidden under the biomass and transforms himself into an assertive man who is looking for an offence. An old lady who mysteriously wanders in the lake knocks at his door in the middle of the night. Believing that the lady is the spirit of all evils, a fearful Tomba chases her and commits an unintended crime.

"Today, when I look at my birthplace Manipur, I see guns all around. Gun - a symbol of authority and ownership - drive others, be it insurgents or the state authorities. We forget that fear and anxiety instil further worries resulting in violence," Paban Kumar said.

He said decades of insurgency and socio-political uncertainty have thrown society into disarray leaving people to recede into a cocooned existence devoid of any space for free and visible self-expression.

The story is developed from writer Sudhir Naoroibam's short story titled Gun.

Paban Kumar uses non-professional artistes for his feature film. In fact, Tomba and Thambalsang are a real-life couple, who dwell in Loktak lake and live by fishing.

National award winning film critic Meghachandra Kongbam hoped that the world premiere will provide Paban Kumar the market for his film.

"Earlier, Manipuri feature filmmakers wanted their films screened as part of the Indian Panorama. Now that Paban Kumar's film will be premiered in an international film festival, this is an opportunity to market his film," Kongbam said.