Photo Courtesy: nenow
Imphal: Fifteen fragile 8mm film reels from 1930s Manipur are traveling to Italy for professional inspection and digital preservation. The initiative saves rare documentation of local life shot by pioneers Maharaj Kumar Priyabrata Singh and Kongbrailatpam Ibohal Sharma. The SN Chand Cine Archive and Museum and the Home Movies Foundation in Bologna are leading the project. Experts will handle everything from physical repairs to cataloging.
These reels belong to a 25-reel collection donated by X-Cine to the SN Chand Cine Archive and Museum. Filmmaker K Bimol Sharma, son of the founder, oversees the organization today. Maharaj Kumar Priyabrata Singh used a 1935 Bell and Howell camera to capture traditions. These pioneers documented a changing society instead of chasing commercial success. Filmmaking was hard back then.
The partnership follows the training of Johnson Rajkumar, the archive's principal film conservationist. Rajkumar joined the FIAF Film Restoration Summer School 2026 in Bologna, which ran from June 19 to July 12. Mentors from the Library of Congress and Warner Bros. taught him the trade. Home Movies Foundation Director Paolo Simoni confirmed the high-tech plan. He said the footage will be digitised according to global film preservation standards rather than merely creating basic access copies.
The Manipur State Film Development Society confirmed the collaboration. The work will secure the state's early visual history for future generations. Experts will now assess the chemical condition of the celluloid before starting the complex digitisation process.
Comments