Kraken, a film from Arunachal Pradesh in the Galo language was screened at the film festival. It is the story of a medical officer, once passionate about acting but forced to abandon his dreams which resurfaces to take an audition. This decision could jeopardize his job that supports his family’s debt, risk his engagement, and endanger the life of a pregnant woman in labor.
Nendeng Loder, director and actor of the movie said the movie delves into the internal conflict of an individual sandwiched between societal expectations and personal desire. “It’s a story of redemption; It’s about the journey to find your inner voice”, Loder said. Loder expressed gratitude to the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) for their support in producing the film, acknowledging the difficulty of filming in Arunachal Pradesh.
“The state offers incredible talent but lacks sufficient platforms for emerging filmmakers. I believe this film will inspire the next generation of filmmakers to follow their dreams and tell their stories”, he added.
Cinematographer Nyago shared his experience of shooting in a confined space with a single character, a challenge he had never faced before. “It was a unique experience that pushed my limits as a cinematographer”, he stated.
Later, speaking to the Herald, Nendeng said he was more of an actor and he was struggling to get roles and was not getting anything for years and then he decided to write stories which he loved and it was in that way this story came about. He said, “I was true to myself and it is a very personal story which is based on my personal life experiences. Since I did not know who was going to produce it, I made it on a very low budget. There is only one actor and one location. I wanted to see myself in one picture, I wanted to see if I could pull it off, I wanted to challenge myself and with all these budget restraints I had to make the movie. Filmmaking in our place is not so big, we have very little of everything starting with cinematographers, actors, directors. It is very hard to find actors to speak in the dialect I am speaking. Most of the actors are non professionals and most are in voice overs. When NFDC came in it changed everything. We don’t have very professional producers there. It is very difficult. The budget is very low”.