Inside Tenfa, a Magical Realist Story Set in the Fragile Landscape of Kinnaur
Blending folklore, memory and lived realities of Kinnaur, interdisciplinary filmmaker Nihaarika Negi's Tenfa emerges from years of listening to a place, its people, and its women
A still from Tenfa
Over the past four years, filmmaker Nihaarika Negi has made multiple trips to Kinnaur, Himachal Pradesh, to reclaim her connections to her roots and ancestors. “I entered this process by listening to the stories of my family and the land as well as bearing witness to the ways in which the very ecology that sustained the tribe was being rapidly eroded by the march of industrialisation and progress,” says Negi, whose paternal side of the family belongs to the indigenous region of Kinnaur.
During this period, Negi was moved by the “incredible acts of activism and preservation” that the community, especially the women, had undertaken and wanted to make a film that celebrated these everyday acts of heroism. And that’s how the idea of Tenfa (which in Kinnauri means a gift given by your elders) was born.
The short film was showcased at the recent Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA). Tenfa started to take shape as Negi began spending time with Dolma, her bua (paternal aunt) during her visits to Kinnaur. Dolma, a midwife, soon became the central character and through her gaze the film unpacks larger themes of forgotten histories, building communities and the strength of storytelling.
Nihaarika Negi
As someone who provides vital maternal healthcare in remote regions, in Tenfa, we see Dolma trekking to the village of Kandar to deliver the first baby to be born there in 10 years. Nestled in a rugged valley, the village lies almost abandoned following deadly landslides caused by massive hydroelectric construction. When the childbirth goes awry and without access to medical facilities, Dolma’s only hope to save the new mother’s life is to find a rare indigenous herb. The single person who can identify the plant is an elderly grandmother raising her granddaughter. “The three women journey across scarred ancestral land searching for the medicinal herb, their only guide being a folksong in a language that Dolma has forgotten and the granddaughter has never learnt,” says Negi.
To build the narrative, Negi, an interdisciplinary artist, blends theatre, folktale and magical realism with cinematic elements. “My practice is centered around contemporary performance and participatory work. These are forms that inherently seek to question the boundaries of reality and fiction, of artistic agency and collective authorship, of the magical and the mundane. And I come to filmmaking through that lens,” says Negi, who holds a MA in Theatre Practice (Exeter) and an MFA from USC’s Peter Stark Producing Program.
ALSO READ | Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari on why System continues her journey of telling aspirational stories
Negi wanted Tenfa, which is made in collaboration with the community, to reflect the multi-lingual reality of the region. The film features three languages that are spoken there: Hamskad (or Kinnauri), Pahadi Kinnauri and Hindi. “Since Kinnauri culture hasn’t really been depicted in mainstream storytelling, it was important for us to authentically represent the community before and behind the camera. Since we enter the film through the character of Dolma, we wanted to situate the film around my village, Sungra, in Nichar Valley.” The members of Negi’s family also are part of the cast.
“Making this film was my way of attempting to understand how I could begin to archive and document the language, the landscape, the songs and the people through a form that seems deeply connected to the Kinnauri ethos: storytelling,” Negi says. In collaboration with her producing partners on this film – Storiculture and Star Hopper Studio – she also wants to start a storytelling lab in Kinnaur for Kinnauris. The aim is to facilitate the meeting of elders and folklorists with narrative storytelling mentors to help them share their own stories on a bigger stage.
Negi is currently engaged with the post-production for her first feature film, Birds of a Feather, which she has written, co-directed and produced along with filmmaker Tanmay Chowdhary. “I am also in advance development for my next directorial feature, Feral, which is supported by Sundance+WIF and Film Independent. It is about two indigenous maidservants in the Himalayas who take over the home of their British Madam and reclaim their wild, mystical selves. It’s an Indo-German co-production being produced by Naren Chandavarkar and Zorana Musikic,” says Negi.
Share
