Synopsis: Mau: The Spirit Dreams of Cheraw is a documentary film from Mizoram, through Cheraw (Bamboo Dance) and ritual folklore, revealing the forgotten memory of the story of the mother who dies at childbirth. The film shows a re-imagined dance of the mother spirit with the bamboo dance performed as a way to pacify the soul of the mother who dies in childbirth. Bamboo is part of the geo-political history of Mizoram and the many other states in the north-east of India. Hence the loss of this intergenerational maternal memory is the crisis of culture, the climate of a place. This film is part of a four chapter series that will be looking at human and non-human relationships by inquiring the hidden stories, indigenous knowledge systems, memories, ancestral wisdom and displacement of this relationship.

Directors Bio: Shilpika Bordoloi is a filmmaker, performing artist, educator and curator. She is the founder and artistic director of Brahmaputra Cultural Foundation (BCF), a visiting faculty at the National School of Drama, National Institute of Design and at the State University of Film and Television, Haryana. She has been awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar for Experimental Dance in India. Currently, she is exploring the broad umbrella of Body Wisdom where healing modalities, stage work, screen work and community work intersect in a multi-dimensional way.

Producer: Shilpika Bordoloi is a filmmaker, performing artist, educator and curator. She is the founder and artistic director of Brahmaputra Cultural Foundation (BCF), a visiting faculty at the National School of Drama, National Institute of Design and at the State University of Film and Television, Haryana. She has been awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar for Experimental Dance in India. Currently, she is exploring the broad umbrella of Body Wisdom where healing modalities, stage work, screen work and community work intersect in a multi-dimensional way.