Odisha’s Sports Documentary To Be Screened At Film Festivals Of 3 Countries

Bhubaneswar: ‘The Mountain Hockey’, a sports documentary showcasing the story of Odisha tribal girls’ training on mountain top and their guru, will be screened at three International film festivals — in Germany, Spain and Dubai.

Directed by Odisha’s Avinash Pradhan and Debashis Mohapatra, the film has been produced by Raj Kishore Hota of Cinespineer Productions.

“This movie has got officials invitations from three international film festivals from three different countries and will be screened in Germany, Spain and Dubai in September-October,” informed internationally acclaimed filmmaker Jitendra Mishra, promoter of the documentary.

The 29-minute film narrates the story of Rajendra Kumar Kujur, a teacher, hockey coach and sports activist who goes through a lot of struggle and hardship to teach hockey to tribal girls of Amlikhaman village in Odisha’s Sambalpur district.

“It is an inspiring story and my aim is to support and promote sincere filmmakers and positive stories from our region… we all should do it together,” said Mishra.

The film was released on OTT platform Disney+ Hotstar in June.

There will be added interest on this documentary as two men  — Amit Rohidas and Birendra Lakra — and a couple of women — Deep Grace Ekka and Namita Toppo — were part of the Indian teams that performed creditably at the recent Tokyo Olympics. The men’s team bagged bronze and the women made the semifinals for the first time.

Also Read: Story Of Odisha Tribal Girls Training On Mountaintop & Their Guru Streaming On Disney+ Hotstar