Johnson Rajkumar, Manipur’s only film conservator, has been selected as the sole participant from India for the FIAF Film Restoration Summer School 2026, to be held in Bologna, Italy. The selection comes with a scholarship of €1,400 but Rajkumar still faces additional costs for travel, course fees and accommodation.
The programme is organised by the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF), a global body of film archives and preservation professionals. The Summer School is a competitive training platform that brings together archivists, curators and conservators for intensive, hands-on instruction in photochemical and digital restoration — methods used to repair, stabilise and digitise ageing film material.
The course is run in partnership with L’Immagine Ritrovata, one of the world’s leading film restoration laboratories. That lab restored the internationally acclaimed Manipuri film Ishanou (1990), which was later shown in the Cannes Classics section at the Cannes Film Festival in 2023, an event that drew renewed global attention to Manipuri cinema.
Rajkumar has been central to film preservation efforts in Manipur. He helped establish the SN Chand Cine Archive and Museum and has spent more than five years working voluntarily to rescue the state’s fragile and deteriorating film heritage. Operating in a region with limited archival infrastructure, his work has focused on building basic preservation capacity and awareness.
Among his contributions, Rajkumar played a key role in the restoration of Ishanou, supervised the digitisation of Brojendragee Luhhongba (1973) — often regarded as the first Manipuri feature by a local filmmaker — and led efforts to salvage surviving reels of Mainu Pemcha (1948), one of the earliest known filmmaking attempts in the state. In recognition of these efforts, he was honoured in 2022 by the Film Heritage Foundation with the “Champion of Film Heritage Award.”
Rajkumar’s participation in the FIAF Summer School is expected to bring technical skills and international best practices back to Manipur, strengthening local archival practices and raising the profile of the region’s film heritage on the global stage.
Original Source: https://www.indiatodayne.in/manipur/story/manipur-film-conservator-johnson-rajkumar-selected-as-indias-sole-participant-for-fiaf-summer-school-in-italy-1370644-2026-04-05?utm_source=rssfeed
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Publish Date: 2026-04-05 09:39:00
