Wancho Folktale to Become First Animated Film from Arunachal’s Patkai Hills

A traditional folktale from the Wancho community of Arunachal Pradesh’s Longding district is being adapted into an animated short film, becoming the first such project from the remote Patkai Hills region along the India-Myanmar border.

The film is currently being developed during a two-month workshop at an institute in Bengaluru. The initiative is being led by the Adivasi Arts Trust , a UK-based charity that promotes and preserves indigenous Indian art, culture and storytelling through animation and digital media, in collaboration with the Bryan Guinness Charitable Trust . The workshop has brought together four undergraduate design students and two young Wancho artists under the guidance of animation faculty member Vijay Punia.

The project traces its origins to Kamhua Noknu , one of the largest traditional Wancho villages in Longding district. It began in 2019 when UK-based filmmaker and cultural researcher Jonathan Hope visited the village to document oral narratives shared by elders as part of his postdoctoral research. During the study, 32 stories were recorded from Kamhua Noknu and nearby villages. Local teacher Jatwang Wangsa later translated these stories, which were published in a book in 2024.

The selected tale, “The Story of the Gourd,” holds special cultural significance for the Wancho people. Narrated by the late Ngamchai Wangsa, father of Jatwang Wangsa, the story recounts the mythical creation of Wangham, regarded as the first village chief. It explores themes of community life, traditional agriculture, governance, territorial disputes and the relationship between people and nature.

A second phase of the initiative began in 2020 with an animation workshop in Kamhua Noknu aimed at introducing local youth to filmmaking and animation. In March 2021, a pre-production workshop brought together students, researchers, media professionals and eight Wancho participants to develop the screenplay, storyboard, character designs and test animation sequences.

The project was later delayed by administrative hurdles before receiving renewed financial support from the Bryan Guinness Charitable Trust. The Bengaluru team has since created hand-crafted animation models and is using a stop-motion animation studio to complete the film.

Once finished, the short film will be released in Wancho, Hindi and English as part of the Stories of Our Ancestors series, helping preserve and share Arunachal Pradesh’s indigenous oral traditions with younger generations through animation.