Rare 1930s Manipur Film Reels Sent to Italy for Professional Restoration and Digitisation
Imphal, August 9, 2026: Rare 8mm film reels documenting everyday life, traditions and landscapes of Manipur during the 1930s are being sent to Italy for professional conservation, restoration and digitisation as part of an international effort to preserve the state’s early visual heritage.
The initiative is being jointly undertaken by the SN Chand Cine Archive & Museum (SNCCAM) and the Home Movies Foundation (National Family Film Archive) in Bologna, Italy. The project aims to protect fragile footage recorded by early Manipur filmmakers Maharaj Kumar Priyabrata Singh and Kongbrailatpam Ibohal Sharma.
According to a release from the Manipur State Film Development Society (MSFDS), 15 fragile 8mm celluloid reels will undergo detailed inspection, cataloguing and professional digital preservation in Italy.
15 Rare Reels Selected for Preservation
The 15 reels form part of a larger collection of 25 reels donated by X-Cine to the SN Chand Cine Archive & Museum.
The original footage was filmed by Maharaj Kumar Priyabrata Singh and Kongbrailatpam Ibohal Sharma. Sharma founded X-Cine, which is currently managed by his son, filmmaker K Bimol Sharma.
SNCCAM, which functions under the MSFDS, has partnered with the Home Movies Foundation in Bologna to ensure that the fragile historical material is handled according to internationally recognised film preservation practices.
Rather than producing simple viewing or access copies, the project will focus on preserving the original material and creating high-quality digital records that can serve researchers, archivists and future generations.
Professional Film Preservation in Italy
Home Movies Foundation Director Paolo Simoni explained that the footage would be digitised according to international film preservation standards.
The preservation process will include a detailed examination of the physical and chemical condition of each reel. Experts will prepare conservation reports and catalogue the footage using internationally recognised metadata standards.
This systematic approach is intended to document not only the visual content but also the condition, provenance and other important archival information associated with the reels.
A Rare Window into 1930s Manipur
The films are considered particularly valuable because they provide a visual record of Manipur during a period when filmmaking and film preservation were extremely challenging.
Maharaj Kumar Priyabrata Singh used a Bell & Howell 8mm camera dating from 1935 to record aspects of everyday life, traditions and landscapes.
Together, Singh and Ibohal documented a society undergoing change rather than producing conventional commercial films. Their footage therefore provides a rare visual window into the social and cultural life of Manipur nearly a century ago.
The reels are valuable not simply as old films but as historical documents that can help future generations understand how people, communities, landscapes and traditions in Manipur looked during the 1930s.
SNCCAM Conservationist Selected for FIAF Training
The international restoration project also follows a significant achievement by Johnson Rajkumar, Principal Film Conservationist at SNCCAM.
Rajkumar was the only Indian selected for the FIAF Film Restoration Summer School 2026 in Bologna, held from June 19 to July 12.
The programme brought together experts from leading international institutions, including the Library of Congress and Warner Bros., for specialised sessions covering film inspection, restoration techniques and archival preservation.
The training has helped strengthen SNCCAM’s technical capacity and contributed to the current collaboration with the Home Movies Foundation.
Protecting Manipur’s Visual Heritage
The preservation of the 1930s reels represents an important step in safeguarding Manipur’s early cinematic and cultural history.
With fragile celluloid film vulnerable to physical and chemical deterioration, professional conservation and digitisation can help ensure that the material remains accessible long after the original reels become difficult or impossible to play.
The collaboration between SNCCAM and the Home Movies Foundation also highlights the growing importance of international cooperation in preserving regional film heritage.
For Manipur, the project could provide future historians, filmmakers, researchers and the wider public with unprecedented access to rare visual records of the state’s past.
