Felt fortunate to able to watch the documentary film viz. "Mask Art of Majuli " on 13th May 2023 at the Habitat Film Festival, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. It was screened with limited viewers with hundred plus capacity and entry was done through online reservation link provided by the Organizer. The hall was packed during the screening with several prominent personalities , movie lovers, friends, assamese community , local community etc. There was in interaction session for the viewers with the Film Producer Sri Borpujari after concluding the presentation . Several questions were asked by viewers on the substance of the film.

This Documentary film is in Assamese , released in the hear 2022 with Duration of 56 mins , Directed by Sri Utpal Borpujari, Delhi based renowned film maker. The film could able to bring attention of viewers as well as critics and already awarded as the Best Documentary (Bronze) at North East Film Festival, Mumbai, 2023 and screened in several film festivals viz. 6th International Folklore Film Fest Thrissur, Jan 2023; 29th Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema, France,; 11th Chennai International Documentary & Short Film Fest 2023 , India Documentary Film Festival, Shillong 2023 etc
The screenplay, editing , sound, music were beautifully done based on Majuli which is the largest inhabited river island in the world with numerous Satras (monasteries) , epic entre of Satriya culture created by saint Srimanta Sankardev in 15th Century.
This documentary is rich in content which is beautifully portraying to the Audience about the eco system of the traditional art viz. “ Mask Art” which though has been around since 15th Century but relatively very few people knew about it . This documentary described well how a few families in this river island manage to sustain the Art producing organically using local resources, how it could able to generate curiosity to visitors and attract tourist including foreign.
A few subtle messages from the film felt were various challenges faced by the art to sustain in today’s competitive world viz. Tradition Vs economic sustainability , linking with viable tourism industry, diversifying the products as per local need etc. If the various stakeholders viz. local community, society, government , buyers etc put some attention, definitely more outcome is inevitable in coming days from this Art. Wishing the team best of Luck for producing such useful and excellent documentary film

Dibyojit Dutta
New Delhi