Guwahati, Oct 13: A pregnant woman struggles to give birth amid gunfire. A young boy searches for his missing mother, accompanied by a stray calf. A cafe owner risks her life to shelter people fleeing violence.
These are the human stories at the heart of Enoong Ngallamdai (Fireflies in the Dark), a Manipuri film set against the ethnic violence that erupted in Manipur in 2023. The 85-minute film recently had its world premiere at the 2026 Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF), where it was screened in the Panorama Cinemas of Asia section.
Told through three interwoven narratives, the film explores displacement, survival and the fragile hope that persists amid conflict.
Producer Jani Viswanath said the film seeks to portray the human cost of violence without turning suffering into spectacle. Its fragmented, non-linear narrative and intimate handheld cinematography bring viewers closer to people living on the margins of the crisis.
Rather than focusing solely on the violence, the film examines what it takes to carry on when familiar lives and communities have been torn apart.
“A quiet but powerful reminder that hope, however flickering, always finds a way to endure,” Viswanath said.
The story was written by Chingsanglakpa and Yogesh Lohan, who also directed the film. Lohan said the project began with encounters with survivors of the Manipur violence.
“I came to this project first as a screenwriter. Before writing a single scene, I travelled to Manipur and met survivors who had lost everything. What struck me was not only their pain and trauma, but the quiet, stubborn hope that still lived in their eyes. That hope became the heartbeat of the film,” he said.
Shot at real locations in Manipur, the film was made with the trust and support of local communities, Lohan said.
He said the intention was to honour the lives of those affected by the conflict without sensationalising their experiences.
“That trust lives in every frame,” he said.
For Lohan, the film also speaks to a wider world grappling with violence, division and unrest.
“Within that reality, human beings continue to find reasons to hold on. This film is a celebration of that instinct and the belief that light, however small, will always find a way through,” he said.
The Vancouver screening marked an important moment for the team after the challenges of bringing the project to the screen.
“After everything we have gone through to bring this film to life, seeing it finally reach an audience feels incredibly special,” Lohan said.
First-time actors bring lived experiences to the screen
The film features Bala Hijam Ningthoujam, known for the BAFTA-winning film Boong, alongside Leishangthem Tonthoingambi Devi, Angom Pamdamba Singh, Aheibam Chiranjit, Luwang Yumlembam and Ratan Lai.
It also features several first-time actors, including people from remote villages and refugee camps who had never appeared before a camera.
Viswanath said filming under such circumstances presented considerable challenges, but the participation of these performers gave the film a distinctive quality.
Some of the actors, she said, brought experiences rooted in the very communities whose lives the film seeks to portray.
“It was a challenging but interesting situation to handle every day,” she said, adding that their performances brought a raw, lived reality to the screen.
Viswanath has previously produced films exploring regional identities and communities often overlooked by mainstream cinema. Her filmography includes the multi-award-winning Assamese film Xhoixobote Dhemalite (Rainbow Fields), directed by Bidyut Kotoky; the Boro films Jwlwi – The Seed and Gorai Phakri (Wild Swans), both directed by Rajni Basumatary; and the Manipuri documentary Andro Dreams, directed by Meena Longjam.
Her work has frequently focused on resilience, perseverance and the experiences of communities on the margins.
For Viswanath, the film’s message extends beyond Manipur.
“Violence, conflict and chaos in any community anywhere in the world is never a solution to long-term peace. We need unity, positivity and harmony to sustain a habitable world,” she said.
Ravi Ranjan Sharma served as director of photography, while Meena Longjam was the creative director. The post-production team included sound designers Amrit Pritam and Debajit Changmai, music composer Daniel B George and editor Tinni Mitra. Rajni Basumatary served as executive producer.
Through the lives of people caught in a conflict, Fireflies in the Dark turns attention away from the spectacle of violence and towards the individuals trying to rebuild their lives.
Its central question is not simply how people survive a crisis, but what enables them to keep hoping when the future remains uncertain.
Also Watch
Find latest news from every corner of Northeast India at hubnetwork.in, your online source for breaking news, video coverage.
Also, Follow us on-
Twitter-twitter.com/nemediahub
Youtube channel- www.youtube.com/@NortheastMediaHub2020
Instagram- www.instagram.com/ne_media_hub
Download our app from playstore – Northeast Media Hub
The post A boy, a missing mother and a war-torn land: Manipur film debuts in Vancouver appeared first on Hub News.