Award-winning filmmaker Wanphrang K Diengdoh will premiere the final part of his Khasi Identity Trilogy, The Blood and the Border, on 23rd August 2025 at St. Anthony’s College, Noel Conference Hall, 5:00 PM.
The film explores the rituals of the Khyrim kingdom in Meghalaya, North East India, their encounters with Christian missionary activities in the 1800s, and the ongoing challenges posed by the rise of intolerance and nation-state boundaries.
The Blood and the Border is produced by Wishing Tree Creatives, UK, with the support of Meghalayan Age Ltd.
The screening is in collaboration with St. Anthony’s College, Shillong and the Media Club, Department of Mass Media.
The trilogy, spanning a decade of work, includes:
• Where the Clouds End (2015) — on race, belonging, and insider–outsider politics in Shillong.
• Because We Did Not Choose (2017) — on the untold story of indigenous labour from Meghalaya in World War I.
• The Blood and the Border (2024) — a meditation on faith, power, and identity.
This press conference and screening mark the first public presentation of the final film in Shillong, a return to the filmmaker’s roots.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
“Like all my films, this last part of my trilogy has been a deeply personal journey. The Blood and the Border also examines and reflects the fractures, memories, and aspirations of a community negotiating its place in the world.”
— Wanphrang K Diengdoh
ABOUT THE FILM
Title: The Blood and the Border
Director: Wanphrang K Diengdoh
Runtime: 59 mins
Languages: Khasi | English (with English subtitles)
Production: Wishing Tree Creatives, UK
Support: Meghalayan Age Ltd.
Synopsis (short):
A documentary on the rituals of the Khyrim kingdom and their encounters with Christian missionaries in the 1800s, as well as the modern nation-state and contemporary intolerance.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKER
Wanphrang K. Diengdoh is a filmmaker and musician from Shillong, Meghalaya, whose work spans fiction, non-fiction, installation, and music video. His films explore identity, colonialism, and memory through a Khasi lens, earning recognition at major international festivals. He has received the India Foundation for the Arts Arts Practice Grant (2018), the Royal Anthropological Institute Best Film Award (UK, 2017), the Festival della Lessinia Best Film Award (Italy, 2017), and multiple early career fellowships and public art grants. His debut fiction short 19/87 swept Best Film, Screenplay, and Direction at the Guwahati International Film Festival (2010).
His filmography includes Lorni: The Flaneur (Tallinn Black Nights, 2019), Because We Did Not Choose (London, 2017), Where the Clouds End (UN World Urban Forum, 2015), and the multi-award-winning My Name is Eeeoow (2017). His latest, The Blood and The Border (2024), completes his acclaimed Khasi Identity Trilogy. He is currently finishing Clouds Have Bridges too, his first British production. Beyond cinema, Diengdoh has created installations such as Non-Diegetic Identities, Kali Kamai, and contributed to the British Library Endangered Archives Programme, as well as creating music videos and video poems. His films and writings are widely cited in academia, with critics describing him as the pioneer of the “Khasi New Wave” of indigenous art and cinema.
EVENT DETAILS
What: Film Screening of The Blood and the Border
When: 23rd August 2025, 5:00 PM
Where: St. Anthony’s College, Noel Conference Hall, Shillong
Entry: Free, first-come-first-served seating.