Shillong, Jan 3: A film rooted in the Khasi Hills and spoken in the Khasi language carried Meghalaya to the international stage as Pradip Kurbah’s acclaimed feature Ha Lyngkha Bneng – The Elysian Field premiered at Sri Lanka’s Jaffna International Cinema Festival, opening the festival’s 11th edition on December 30.
Screened at the Jaffna Thiruvalluvar Cultural Centre, the film presents a stark yet intimate vision of survival set in 2047, where only six villagers remain in a remote settlement. Through silence, memory and shared loss, Kurbah explores what keeps a community alive when the world around it disappears—an idea that resonates strongly with Meghalaya’s hill societies and their deep ties to land and kinship.
The festival concludes on January 4.
Jaffna International Film Festival is a non-partisan platform to explore contemporary forms of expression in cinema. The main aim is to celebrate independent cinema in the peninsula, whilst creating an understanding of other cultures, promote harmony and mutual understanding through cinema. The festival promotes and encourages young filmmakers by screenings of their debut films and short films.
The film has already brought major international recognition to Meghalaya cinema. At the Kolkata International Film Festival, the film won three top honours, including Best Film, along with Best Director awards for Kurbah. It later received the NETPAC Award for Best Asian Film at the Moscow International Film Festival in 2025.
“Grateful to Jaffna and the Jaffna International Cinema Festival. The opening night at Jaffna Thiruvalluvar Cultural Centre was special, with the screening of our Khasi-language film Ha Lyngkha Bneng – The Elysian Field on 30 December 2025.
“It was heartening to read about Sai Murali warmly welcoming cinephiles to the city, and about the Director of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations in Sri Lanka reflecting on the long-standing collaboration between India and the festival” Kurbah said.
More than 200 Indian entries were submitted, forming the largest share among films from 17 countries.
The festival also featured a tribute to legendary filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak.
