Tirur: Toy Gun, a Manipuri short film produced by Imphal-based first-time producer Khumallambam Omeshwori, has received the Special Jury Mention for Best Film at the Drishyam National Documentary & Short Film Festival 2026, organised by the School of Film Studies, Thunchath Ezhuthachan Malayalam University.
The 14-minute-55-second film was officially invited and screened in the national selection of the festival, held on February 17–18, 2026 at the university campus in Tirur.
Drishyam is an academic national film festival that brings together filmmakers, students and scholars from across the country to engage with contemporary documentary and short film practices.
Set in a conflict-affected region, Toy Gun follows a widowed mother and her young son, where a child’s innocent play with a toy gun gradually triggers memories of real violence and inherited trauma. The film explores how conflict seeps into everyday life and childhood imagination, shaping memory and silence across generations.
Written and directed by Thingnam Parshuram, recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar (2023), the film is produced under the banner Freedom Ekon & Farm House Production.
Earlier, Toy Gun premiered at the Hyderabad International Short Film Festival, where it received the 1st Runner-Up award for Best Short Film of the Year 2025 among hundreds of entries worldwide. The film was also officially selected in the Focus Section and screened at the SiGNS Kerala (18th edition) in 2026.
The recognition at Drishyam further strengthens the film’s growing national presence and highlights the emergence of new voices from Manipur engaging with themes of conflict, memory and everyday resilience through independent cinema.
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