Why do people sing when they work? In Phek, a village in the hills close to the border between India and Myanmar, almost all residents work together in the fields. While preparing the rice terraces, planting seedlings, or harvesting the grain and carrying it up impossibly steep slopes, the rice cultivators of Phek sing. This oral folk music tradition, called Li, keeps their work going and cannot be sung by a single voice. It can only be rendered as a harmonious, polyphonic collective that goes “up down and sideways.” In group interviews, the rice cultivators share the stories behind the songs and talk about what the music means to them. Combined with impressive, atmospheric pictures that follow the rhythm of their work, UP DOWN & SIDEWAYS is a vivid portrait that explores this rural musical culture.
UP DOWN & SIDEWAYS is the first feature film by the u-ra-mi-li project, which represents a larger body of work initiated by an artists’ collective drawn to music, movement and rhythm in the everyday.
This film has been selected for the main program as well as the students’ platform. It is both a debut film and is outstanding for its collective development.
