FHF’s newly restored Nirad Mohapatra’s acclaimed film ‘Maya Miriga’ (1984) will be screening at the Il Cinema Ritrovato in Bologna

Mumbai25/6/24:: FHF’s newly restored Nirad Mohapatra’s acclaimed film ‘Maya Miriga’ (1984) will be screening at the Il Cinema Ritrovato in Bologna on Thursday, June 27, 2024, at 11 am at the Jolly Cinema during the Il Cinema Ritrovato in Bologna this week. The film will be introduced by Sandeep Mohapatra, the filmmaker’s son, and FHF Director Shivendra Singh Dungarpur.

The film is restored by Film Heritage Foundation at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory, with digital restoration done by Digital Film Restore Pvt. Ltd. and scanning at Prasad Corporation Pvt. Ltd.’s Post–Studios in association with the family of the Director, Nirad Mohapatra.

Nirad Mohapatra, alumnus of the Film and Television Institute of India, adhered to Italian Neo-Realism and Indian New Wave filmmaking schools. It is evident in his cinematic choices in Maya Miriga with amateur actors, real locations, lack of melodrama, realistic attires and improvisations. Nirad Mohapatra wrote in his blog in October 2012 that he was not very inclined towards focussing on ‘individuation’, rather he wanted to showcase the overarching narrative and characters who are a part of the story. “One of the reasons why I have not used any close-up in my film is of course to maintain an aesthetic distance but it is also to avoid overemphasis through psychological cutting,” he wrote.