A Sacred Place
Photo: Dolly Kikon
Films
A Sacred Place
A Sacred Place (2026) tells the story of stones, spirits, and salt springs in Makhel. The film focuses on intergenerational storytellers and their relationship with the land. It integrates visual ethnography, oral tradition, and geological features of Makhel to center Indigenous pedagogy, community history, and ecology.
Makhel in Mao Naga language means a sacred place. Can sacredness exist amid ecocide in our times? Seeking an answer, the film follows life as it unfolds in the mountains of Makhel, a Naga village in northern Manipur. These mountains are composed of sandstones, shales, and siltstones.
The sandstone monoliths across the landscape are symbols of ancient alliance and kinship between spirits and humans. The story of the land is also stored in the salt springs, ancient seawater retained in shale soil, a geological feature of these mountains. Geographically part of the Eastern Himalayas, the salt springs of Makhel were formed through sedimentation under an ancient equatorial ocean around 50 million years ago.
Naga ancestors regarded these geological features as abodes for spirit custodians and cared for them. A Sacred Place is the story of land narrated by Naga storytellers, as humans prioritize relentless development forgetting their relationship with human and other beings.
A Sacred Place film is part of the Lithic Worlds research engagement. Learn more
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World premiere
Asufii Christian Institute (ACI) in Mao hosted the world premiere of documentary film “A Sacred Place,” directed and produced by Naga anthropologist Dolly Kikon, on April 18.
The premiere was held in Mao to honour the invaluable contributions of local storytellers and custodians of land and tradition, underscoring the importance of ethical research and local sensibilities.
The event brought together members of the Mao Naga community across generations to reflect on and celebrate their cultural heritage and traditional knowledge amid rapid socio-economic and ecological change. The attendees included storytellers from Makhel village and representatives from Mao Council, Mao Naga Women Association, Mao Students Union, Makhel Village Council, Makhel Women Society, Robvena Union, Robvena Women Society, Punanamei Village Council, Punanamei Women Society, Punanamei Youth & Students, Chowainu Village Council, Chowainu Youth & Students and Chowainu Women Society.
The post-screening discussion was led by Kaisa Pfoze, an award-winning Mao Naga filmmaker recognized for her work “Sunset Years.” Pfoze situated the film within the broader framework of indigenous storytelling, visual ethnography and community memory.
The Morung Express (18 April 2026)
Ukhrul Times (19 April 2026)
Mokukchung Times (20 April 2026)