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Irom Maipak
Irom Maipak
	Irom Maipak with Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam at the 49th National Film Awards.
Born	20 August 1967; Sagolband Salam Leikai, Imphal West, Manipur
Died	20 May 2021 (aged 53)
Nationality	Indian
Occupation	Cinematographer
Spouse	Thounaojam Rita Devi
Parent(s)	Irom Sanajaoba; Irom Ongbi Thambalngoubi
Awards	National Film Award for Best Non-Feature Film Cinematography (2001)

Irom Maipak (20 August 1967 – 20 May 2021) was an Indian cinematographer from Imphal, Manipur.^[1]^[2] He was the founding president of the All Manipur Cinematographers Association. Maipak had worked for more than three decades in Films and Television industry.^[3] He received the prestigious National Film Award for Best Non-Feature Film Cinematography at the 49th National Film Awards.^[4]^[5]

He died from COVID-19 complications on 20 May 2021.^[6]^[7]

Career

Irom Maipak mastered the craft from Fulbright scholar, Ernest Gusella and Tomiyo Sasaki from United States and Aribam Syam Sharma. He had associated with renowned National Award winning filmmakers. His collaboration with Aribam Syam Sharma was marked by feature films namely Ashangba Nongjabi, Leipaklei and Nongphadok Lakpa Atithi and non-feature films such as Rajarshi Bhagyachandra, The Golden Hands and Raas Leelas of Manipur.^[8] Cheina, Thajabagee Wangmada, Nangtana Helli, Tellangga Mamei, Amamba Lambee were films of Oken Amakcham cinematographed by Maipak. He had worked with Haobam Paban Kumar in the documentaries Mr. India (2009), Nupishabi (2010), Phum Shang (2014) and the feature film Nine Hills One Valley (2020).^[9] Mr. India bagged the National Film Award for Best Film on Social Issues at the 57th National Film Awards.^[10] Phum Shang won the Best Investigative Film at the 62nd National Film Awards.^[11] He had also shot a short documentary titled Mother's Market: The Indian bazaar run entirely by women for BBC in 2015.^[12]

In 2016, he had worked with the filmmaker Bobo Khuraijam in the non-feature Ima Sabitri which was screened at many international film festivals. Leipaklei (2012) and Eigi Kona (2019) were movies filmed by Irom Maipak, which went on to win the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Manipuri at the 60th National Film Awards and 67th National Film Awards respectively.^[13] He had also collaborated with the Assamese filmmaker Utpal Borpujari in the 2016 movie Memories of a Forgotten War.^[14]

He documented the five forms of the Manipuri Raas Leela dance, namely Basanta Raas, Maha Raas, Kunja Raas, Diba Raas and Nitya Raas. It was directed by Aribam Syam Sharma for Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi. Maipak had also worked as a cameraman in Asian News International (ANI) for three years. He was the director of photography for the Assamese movie Lefafa directed by Moirangthem Maniram Singha.

Accolades

Irom Maipak bagged the Best Videographer Award in the All Manipur Video Film Festival, 1993 for the feature film Kinepna Pahcha. He won the National Film Award for Best Non-Feature Film Cinematography in the non-feature section for the 2001 film The Monpas of Arunachal Pradesh at the 49th National Film Awards held in 2002.^[15]^[16] The citation for the National Award reads, "For his fascinating style of framing under uncontrolled situations". He was the recipient of the NETV People’s Choice Award 2005, Guwahati for the Best Cinematography.^[17]

In the 7th (2010) and 9th (2014) Manipur State Film Awards, for Mr. India and Phum Shang respectively, he won the Maibi Awards for Best Cinematography.^[18] Navroze Contractor Award for Best Documentary Cinematography was awarded to Irom Maipak for Phum Shang at the 8th International and Short Film Festival, Kerala. He bagged the Best Cinematography Award in the 8th Sahitya Seva Samiti MANIFA 2019 for Meitan Araba.^[19]

For the 2018 non-feature Raas Leelas of Manipur and the feature film Meitan Araba, he received the Best Cinematography Award in the 12th Manipur State Film Awards 2019. He also bagged the Best Cinematography Award at the 13th Manipur State Film Awards 2020 for the movie Nongphadok Lakpa Atithi.^[20]^[21] The citation for the award reads, "Almost every frame of the film Nongphadok Lakpa Atithi are created lyrically realistic with the insight of the cinematographer's creativity. His capacity for understanding the disposition, inclination or natural tendency and mood of the varied scenes and sequence is brought forth in harmonized tonality by the angling lenses to the cinematographic frames. For the reasons herewith, Shri Irom Maipak, the cinematographer of the film is conferred the Award for the Best Cinematographer".^{[citation needed]}

Filmography

Feature films

Year	Film	Director
1992	Kinepna Pahcha	Lamgin Dolingei
1995	Sanabi	Aribam Syam Sharma
2000	Paari	Aribam Syam Sharma
2003	Ashangba Nongjabi	Aribam Syam Sharma
2003	Cheina	Oken Amakcham
2004	Thajabagee Wangmada	Oken Amakcham
2005	Nangtana Helli	Oken Amakcham
2006	Tellangga Mamei	Oken Amakcham
N/A	Lefafa	Moirangthem Maniram Singha
2008	Crossroads	Aribam Syam Sharma
2009	Uoo Thambal	O. Gautam
2010	Amamba Lambee	Oken Amakcham
2011	Miraang	Aribam Syam Sharma
2012	Leipaklei	Aribam Syam Sharma
2012	Japan Lalda Imphal	Chandam Shyamacharan & Manorama
2013	Dasha	Aribam Syam Sharma
2016	Memories of a Forgotten War	Utpal Borpujari
2018	Meitan Araba	Lukanand Kshetrimayum
2019	Nongphadok Lakpa Atithi	Aribam Syam Sharma
2019	Eigi Kona	Bobby Wahengbam & Maipaksana Haorongbam
2020	Nine Hills One Valley	Haobam Paban Kumar
2021	Apaiba Leichil	Bobby Wahengbam

Non-feature films

Year	Film	Director
1995	Yelhou Jagoi	Aribam Syam Sharma
1998	Loktak: Dying Lake of Manipur	Aribam Syam Sharma
1999	Thang-Ta: The Martial Art of Manipur	Aribam Syam Sharma
	The Marams	Aribam Syam Sharma
	Yubi Lakpi	Bobby Wahengbam
2001	The Monpas of Arunachal Pradesh	Aribam Syam Sharma
2002	M.K. Binodini	Aribam Syam Sharma
2002	The Golden Hands	Aribam Syam Sharma
2003	Binodini: A Writer's Life	Aribam Syam Sharma
	Pandit Khelchandra	Aribam Syam Sharma
	Rani: The Living Legend	Aribam Gautam
2004	Nilamani: The Master Potter of Manipur	Aribam Syam Sharma
2004	From Orphanage to Olympics	Bobby Wahengbam
2005	The Theatre Incarnate	Oken Amakcham
2005	Guru Laimayum Thambalngoubi Devi	Aribam Syam Sharma
2007	Rajarshi Bhagyachandra of Manipur	Aribam Syam Sharma
	Ratan Thiyam: The Man of Theatre	Oken Amakcham
	Joseph Ki Macha	Bobby Wahengbam
2008	Mr. Manipur	Aribam Syam Sharma
2008	Leirol	Aribam Syam Sharma
2009	Mr. India	Haobam Paban Kumar
	Sankirtan of Manipur	Aribam Syam Sharma
	Roshni	Bobby Wahengbam
2010	Nupishabi	Haobam Paban Kumar
2010	The Zeliangrongs	Ronel Haobam
2011	Leaders from the Below	Aribam Syam Sharma
2012	Manipuri Pony	Aribam Syam Sharma
2014	Phum Shang	Haobam Paban Kumar
2016	Ima Sabitri	Bobo Khuraijam
2018	Raas Leelas of Manipur	Aribam Syam Sharma
2019	E. Sonamani Singh	Aribam Syam Sharma
2020	Pabung Syam	Haobam Paban Kumar