Thursday, February 24, 2011

Living their Celluloid dreams

They are a group of creative young people with a common vision to make a mark in the movie world, particularly sharing a dream to start a film industry in Kohima and then eventually move towards scaling greater heights in the State.
The Naga Head Hunters Entertainment was founded by Liyo Kikon and Ponenwati Longchar in the year 2005 and, although they have no professional training whatsoever, their first attempt in film making gained a lot of positive reviews and that encouraged them to produce two short video clips called First Assault Kontrol and Extraction Unit.
Ponen, however, moved to England for further studies and after a long period of being dormant, the Entertainment Group was revived early this year when a new team including Kele Yhosü, Imnawapang Longkumer and Cynthia Kolakhe besides Liyo Kikon came together with renewed commitment placing on record the priority to provide local entertainment.
In explaining their logo, they said it may seem violent at first glance but enlightened that it is humorous in itself. In their words, “the bloody head on a stick is just our way of rebelling against society’s way of trying to make everything “politically correct”.
Dwelling on the name they have given for themselves, they put in plain words that ‘Naga Head Hunters Entertainment’ originally started off simply as ‘Head Hunters’ but discovering that it has already been registered by someone else, they added to it ‘Naga’ and probably that seems more apt for having its originality in the Naga Land.
To this, they also elucidate that behind its meaning lies “our origins and roots and we are all so proud – our ancestors were head hunters, brave head hunters which has made the biggest impact on our identity in this world”. To this end, they also add that although “practicing head hunting skills is not applicable anymore we are still marked and imprinted with it.” And that’s how the name of the Entertainment Group came to flourish.
When talks of future dreams surface, they share with enthusiasm the big plans they have. Ranging in their own styles and degrees, they’ve got animations- short-films, music videos and full feature films lined up. Currently, they are working on an English Music Video which they have collaborated with Lamso for the 3 D works and featuring ‘Azure Delusion’.
This music video, they explain is about Armageddon and when asked why this shift to music from films, they are quick to clarify that “we just want to involve ourselves in music industry because Nagas like music”. And indeed for a society that loves music, it’s hard to stay away from it.
With the recent release of ‘Naga Jedi’ a short film of 8 minutes and 24 seconds, the Entertainment Group just got Bigger. Enlightening a little more on the sci-fi comedy, they brief that it’s about a group of Jedi from some distant planet (with its influence from Star Wars series) who came to earth and stayed. It’s also about a Villain from the outer space and dies on earth.
Their clips and movies set with a tinge of humour and power packed with excellent performance, in their short span of experimenting with computers and animation, the Naga Head Hunters Entertainment Group have already won the admiration of many an audience.
Officially, till date, they’ve got two short movies rolling (namely, Liquidators and Naga Jedi) and at the pace it’s going, they are likely to make a huge difference in the scenario of films in the State. When asked to comment on Nagamese movies, they shy away from it but one of the members says that “there are a lot of things to be done”. He feels the picture quality is good but expresses that the editing part is not yet up to the mark.
However, on another note they also stated that none of them ‘really understood the idea of the socially acceptable ‘Educational Qualification’ concept’. “We in no way are activists or anti-education, but we do strongly believe in doing what we love to do, instead of going through the long process of learning something we are not interested in and disappointing ourselves and others with failure. We have chosen a path less complicated or maybe more complicated. What is in store for us, let us find out.”
And to fate they leave it, but for a change we have a bunch of young guys who are self taught movie makers, actors and everything rolled into a dynamic force. They’ve got the whole package in one place just for a common goal and for the love of filming. And this could very well be for the sake of a better name introduced to the Film Industry in the state.
If a stir of interest can create an impact in the society, then we’ve got talents booming big. And for the pleasure of those well loved audience, here is the list of profiles behind the Screen that does more than entertain:

LIYO KIKON
Forte: Film Directing & Editing, Web Designing. A product of Mezhur Higher Secondary School till 10th standard, he made his first website offering thousands of cheat codes for games by the time he turned 13. He moved to Delhi taking up a programming course from NIIT as a cover and concentrated more on what he loved doing- learning different skills through tutorials from the Internet, mainly focusing on video editing and special FX. It was around 2005 when he and Ponen made a short clip called "dancing stormtrooper" where Ponen wore the first tryout of the half-finished costume. This video in particular was much appreciated by everyone and also featured in the XI issue in Skoar magazine, India .

KELE YHOSHÜ
Forte: Digital Art-Colouring, 3D GraphicsKele also had his early education from Mezhür Higher Secondary School after which he joined Shillong (St.Xaviers. Soon after 12th he went to Delhi and tried his hand in animation from Gecko Academy of Digital Arts and eventually started to teach himself through various tutorials from the internet like character rigging in Maya, Modelling in 3D Max as well as experimenting with various softwares. He is also the guy behind their latest work "The Naga Jedi".

IMNAWAPANG LONGKUMER
Forte: Artwork, Character DesigningImnawapang attended various schools before he finished his Pre-University from 7 Set annex, Shillong. Born an artist, he already won his place when he was in class II. He also played the part of the protagonist in the short film and is currently taking up an animation course from Toonz Academy , New Delhi .

CYNTHIA KOLAKHE
Forte: Shading, Texturing and ToningShe is a product of Little Flower School, Kohima and a graduate of Delhi College of Art. She started painting when she was in class 11 and has also won a lot of art competitions, the latest from Kingdom International Delhi, where she won the first prize for carpe diem in 2008. Currently she's taking up a course from Picasso, New Delhi in 3D Film making.

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