Paper short abstract:

This study engages with how indigenous filmmakers in Aizawl, in northeast India use the digital media. I examine the co-option and the co-use of digital high-technology and small scale-devices to show the complex structure of how indigenous film is made and shown to the public.

Paper long abstract:

This study engages with how indigenous filmmakers in Aizawl, the capital of the state of Mizoram in India’s northeast, use digital media. The study decenters from the focus of the technological and infrastructure, as well as the market systems and the regulatory frameworks, of which digital media, is often investigated. Rather, it is embedded in the everyday media engagements of indigenous filmmakers. The starting point here is that there is no uniform digital media development, and I oppose the assumption of “one-size-fits-all” digital technology engagement and proliferation (Gillespie, 2019).

I will examine the co-option and the co-use of digital high-technology and small scale-devices to show the complex structure of how indigenous film is made and shown to the public in Aizawl. I look at the production sites and explore how the filmmakers use high-end digital technology to create videos/ films, and why they hesitate to release it digitally or upload it on the internet. Instead, the filmmakers work with local public leaders to organize local tours to connect with the community. Thus, high tech films are shown in makeshift venues, often using mundane tools like white cloths and small devices like beamers to screen local movies. The paper looks at how non-state actors use the digital media on their own terms and for their own purposes and their network.

I will also outline some of the challenges of doing ethnography as an indigenous person, while still engaging with western or hegemonic decolonial thoughts.