Professor Dolly Kikon (left) and Bano Haralu (right) speak during a screening of the film A Sacred Place at The Lighthouse Church in Dimapur on September 4. The event was co-hosted by Mao Hoho, Dimapur, Wildlife Conservation Society-India, and The Morung Express. (Morung Photo)
Morung Express News
Dimapur | September 4
For Professor Dolly Kikon, creating ‘A Sacred Place’ was more than a shift from academic research to filmmaking, it was a process of unlearning, deep listening, and above all, returning a story to the people who had shared it.
Speaking after the film’s screening at The Lighthouse Church in Dimapur on September 4, Kikon, who both produced and directed the film, said she is “still learning,” especially when it comes to transitioning from writing to visual storytelling, even after making her third film.
“The switch between the text and the visual is like switching between two universes,” she said, adding that filmmaking had taught her the “power” of editing, sound and images in shaping a story.
Kikon said she consciously returned to the footage after her second cut to bring more stories of women into the film. Working with two cameras and hours of footage, she described the search for the right moments as “like finding a needle in a haystack”.
The film consequently moves between generations — from an older woman speaking about traditions being lost to young people continuing to practise them.
Some of her most important lessons, however, came after the film was completed. Kikon recalled watching it through the eyes of children from the community, who laughed at moments she had not noticed.
She particularly remembered a young boy seen at the end of the film. When she met him again near a village monolith, he sang a song before taking her pen and paper. Believing she was writing, he wrote the alphabet and numbers one to four.
“That made me realise there is a life beyond the film right now. But it is still part of the film,” she said.
Kikon also spoke about bringing indigenous knowledge and Western science together, referring to the First Nations philosophy of seeing the world through “two eyes” — one recognising science and the other indigenous and traditional wisdom.
She cited indigenous astronomy in Australia and New Zealand, noting that indigenous communities had navigated oceans and charted routes long before Western mapping systems.
The same relationship between ancestral knowledge and science, she said, is visible in Makhel, where elders knew which salt springs could be used for stomach ailments.
Recently, she returned to the village with a geologist and a team to collect samples from the salt-water spring for scientific testing, fulfilling a promise made during the film’s production. The results are expected in about three months and will be returned to the village as part of its heritage.
The film was also an attempt to move away from what Kikon described as “extractive research”.
Recalling her 2023 visit to Makhel with the RRaD and FNR team, she said an elder told her that many people came to take away the village’s stories but rarely returned.
“That stayed with me,” she said.
Kikon proposed creating something the village could keep and returned the following year. Village youth cleaned a partly constructed community hall for the exhibition, while women cooked and gathered vegetables and other produce from the fields.
For Kikon, the community’s response became the film’s greatest achievement.
She said her primary audience was the people of the village, particularly its children.
“I don’t care if the world rejects it,” she said, recalling the children’s laughter and the women claiming the film as their own. That joy, she added, “has no price”.
Kikon also addressed concerns about balancing preservation of indigenous life with opportunities for younger generations. She recalled waking around 5 am during a recent visit to find children studying together before school, including a little girl learning spellings with her father in the kitchen.
“As an educator, I know for a fact that the children of this village have a better future than many villages,” she said.
Kikon said communities should not be viewed only through the lens of deprivation, pointing to the strong educational aspirations of children she encountered and the agricultural work ethic in Senapati district. She recalled meeting graduates and PhD holders who credited parents working on farms and selling vegetables for supporting their education.
Kikon said every Naga village has an origin story and that indigenous philosophy places the village at the centre of understanding the universe and relationships.
In A Sacred Place, the story of the spirit, tiger and man is central to the idea of kinship and reflects older connections among communities across the region.
‘A Sacred Place’ beyond Makhel
In her commentary, Bano Haralu, Programme Manager, Wildlife Conservation Society-India (Nagaland), described Kikon as a “warrior, scholar, author and filmmaker” who makes viewers reflect on their relationship with land and nature.
“A sacred place is one place up here. But all of us carry a sacred place within us,” she said.
Haralu said the film raises wider questions about development, environmental degradation and the challenge of balancing modern and traditional ways of life.
Citing Forest Survey of India data, she said Nagaland had lost about 800 square kilometres of forest over the past decade, including nearly 200 square kilometres in the last two years.
She urged young people to speak to parents, grandparents and elders, document stories and songs, visit traditional places and plant trees.
“People are made up of stories,” Haralu said.
She also cited the decline in rice diversity, saying a scientist from the Odisha Rice Institute recorded about 2,000-3,000 rice varieties in Nagaland in the 1980s, but fewer than 800 during a return visit in 2002-03.
Haralu praised the film’s portrayal of children and women, saying it captures the connections between people, land and community.
Reflecting on the relationship between Christianity and indigenous beliefs about nature, Haralu said the Christian principle of creation also calls for stewardship and care of the planet.
About the film and screening
Makhel, also known as Makhrai Rabu, is a Mao Naga village in northern Manipur regarded by many Naga communities as a place of origin. Its stone relics and monoliths are associated with traditions of land, kinship and ancestry. Makhel means “A Sacred Place”.
The film was produced and directed by Prof Dolly Kikon and the screening was co-hosted by Mao Hoho, Dimapur, Wildlife Conservation Society-India and The Morung Express.
The programme was chaired by The Morung Express editor Akangjungla. Kaini Lokha delivered the welcome address, Prof James Kalong of Oriental Theological Seminary pronounced the blessing, and the president of Mao Hoho, Dimapur, also addressed the gathering.
For Kikon, the film ultimately became more than a record of a place — it became a conversation between generations and a story that the community could finally call its own.
As the lights came on after the screening, the film’s message lingered beyond the walls of the venue — that preserving a sacred place is not only about protecting its stones, springs and forests, but also the stories and relationships that give them meaning. In that sense, A Sacred Place becomes less a film about the past and more a call to decide what of that past survives into the future.
