Tso tawo, a story from nagaland
Tso Tawo is a short film that has been adapted from a folktale from Khezakheno village, in Phek District Nagaland. Leslie Mackenzie from West Highland Animation and Tara Douglas travelled to the village in March 2019 and organised a workshop in the local primary school for children to design the characters. The film script was translated and audio recordings of narrations and dialogues were made. The remaining artwork was done by children in Scotland and the film was produced at West Highland Animation in Scotland.
It is a migration story, and it is the first film to be completed (in 2019) for The Stories of Our Ancestors project.
Tso Tawo is the story of the Spirit Stone in Khezhakeno. It was a magic stone, and any grain that was put upon it, doubled. The film was directed by Leslie Mackenzie, using cut out animation techques and backlighting to produce silhouettes that reflect the colours that are popular in the region. The narration and dialogues were recorded in the Kheza language and the film has English subtitles.