Indus Valley Times

By Our Correspondent

Cannes/Bhubaneswar, Mey 27 :  For more than a decade, internationally acclaimed writer-director Biswanath Rath and his short films, documentaries, music videos are known for representing Odisha/India and even Asia in International Film Festivals as well as OTT platforms across the globe. This time, he has created history by presenting, representing few of Odisha’s lesser-known handloom traditions in the ongoing 77th edition of Festival de Cannes (commonly referred to as Cannes Film Festival).

On his very first visit to this world-famous Film Festival, Biswanath has launched the posters of his upcoming Odia-English Feature-Documentary titled ‘Habaspuri Weaving: The Second and Last Death???’ which is about Habaspuri Handloom; a unique, age-old, acclaimed, but near-extinct handloom tradition from Kalahandi district of Odisha.

This remarkable feature documentary follows the footsteps of his previous acclaimed handloom documentary “Kotpad Weaving: The Story of a Race Against Time” and marks a significant milestone in his journey to celebrate and preserve Odisha’s rich artisan heritage.

After featuring in the final 12 Documentary projects (selected out of 98 International entries) in last year’s edition of NFDC Film Bazaar (Goa), this project is now being supported by NFDC Film Bazaar Documentary Co-Production Market 2023.

 While Biswanath Rath is producing and creatively supervising this feature documentary under his banner ‘BnR Films’, it is being directed by Mayur Mahapatra. The research for this doc has been done by Filmmaker Biswanath Rath, textile designer Anupriya Mridha, US-based textile enthusiast Corinn Flaherty, Mayur Mahapatra, Siddhant Swaroop and Debasish Pratihari.

Additionally, for the first time ever in the history of Odisha/India’s rich handloom traditions and in the history of Cannes Film Festival, he showcased Kotpad Handloom; the acclaimed tribal textile tradition from Koraput (Odisha) by proudly wearing a Kotpad Kurta; gifted to him by the Kotpad handloom Weavers as a token of appreciation for his documentary on their age-old, hereditary tradition.

Filmmaker Biswanath says, “This was my very first experience of Festival De Cannes (also known as Cannes Film Festival).

And I had a really great, satisfying and memorable time there watching few of the selected film in Cannes’s iconic theatres, meeting filmmakers from all corners of the world and promoting our own culture/tradition.

 Although Sambalpuri handloom has been showcased before, this is the very first time, Kotpad Handloom was showcased to the world in this prestigious and famous International Film Festival. And this showcase is my tribute to the entire Kotpad handloom ecosystem which consists of the dyers, the weavers, textile designers, customers, NGOs, textile brands, Govt organizations, in fact every single soul working for the growth of this age-old tradition.

The poster launch of our upcoming documentary ‘Habaspuri Weaving’ was another very special moment for me as well as our entire team. This documentary has been one of our dream projects ever since its inception in 2019.

 It is the spiritual successor of our internationally acclaimed/awarded handloom documentary ‘Kotpad Weaving’. ‘Habaspuri Weaving’ explores the Habaspuri Handloom tradition from Kalahandi (Odisha), the reason behind its languishing days and possible solutions for revival/growth of this ancient textile tradition as all as the weavers.”

About Biswanath Rath

A Post-Graduate in Screenwriting and Film Direction, Biswanath Rath hails from Jeypore (Koraput District, Odisha). He recently achieved the unique milestone of becoming the first Odia Filmmaker to win 500 International Film Festival Accolades/Awards.

As of today, his films have received 511 awards and recognitions in International Film Festivals across the world bringing glory to Odisha/India/Asia.

He is the founder of the award-winning Film Production Company ’BnR Films’, co-founded by his wife Archana Rath. BnR Films is currently working on several projects which include fiction films, short films, music videos, and documentaries; to be directed by Biswanath as well as other filmmakers.