Haru, a film student from SAFTI (Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute), is the editor of the short film "A Doll Made Up Of Clay," which has been officially selected to compete at the Cannes Film Festival. From using art as a form of escapism to accomplishing his dreams, he is only at the beginning of his journey and has already done what others can only dream off.
In an interview with Dhaka tribune, he helped us dive into in thoughts and talked about his dreams and experience.
How did you get into filmmaking?
In 2012, I got into college, Birshrestha Noor Mohammad Public College. My family shifted from Comilla to Dhaka at that time and I really couldn't match up with the Dhaka boys and wanted to find some form of art as a form of escapism. Reading books, writing stories, watching films and then altogether I got interested in writing film scripts. I started watching a lot of films via the suggestions of the film groups of Facebook such as 'Cinemakhor', 'Cinemakhorder adda' and by watching films I felt like I too can make films and then I wanted to study more about it. Then in 2015 I got into the Television and Film Studies of University of Dhaka and now I am here.
What is your prior experience in this field?
In 2016 I started working as an AD for Sankha Dasgupta and Ahmed Hasan Sunny for a few days. They together had a production house back then, I am sorry I forgot the name of it. And then in 2018, I became an intern AD for Half Stop Down under the supervision of Amitabh Reza Chowdhury. I couldn't stay there for long either as my studies were hampering. I shot, edited and directed a film named 'MRP', which got selected at Nepal's Ekadeshma International Film Festival's 'Made in Bangladesh' corner. Among the 12 films that got selected, I was the youngest director at that time. The same film was selected at the International Film Festival of South Asia, Toronto, Canada in 2018. I made this film inside my own room at Dhaka, just by following my brother. The film cost was literally nothing. And after coming here in our first year, everyone has to direct at least one film, I too made one, which got selected at IIUSFF, Dhaka and later at Dhaka Intl. Film Festival, but I had to withdraw the selection as they needed Bangladesh Premiere status, which I didn't have as I already screened my film at IIUSFF, Dhaka.
How did SAFTI help you in this journey?
SRFTI has a beautiful campus I must say. Kolkata already has a lot less noise than Dhaka and SRFTI campus have even lesser sound pollution. So it helps us to think about our stories and discuss among the people who come from different parts of the world. Even in India there are lots of languages among them. Hearing those languages, their stories sort of trigger our memories of similar sorts of stories which help us write better scripts I feel. Other than that, SRFTI has really good technical departments. Editing, Cinematography, Sound - these three departments are equipped with the best possible equipment along with the very talented teachers. As the teachers are already established filmmakers, this encourages us even more.
What does the Cannes selection mean for Bangladeshi films?
I think all the film students, film enthusiasts who are a bit skeptical about if they should join the journey of filmmaking, this news should inspire and encourage them. I personally have been discouraged a lot for getting into filmmaking yet I stuck onto it hoping one day I might get success. I didn't keep myself occupied into the typical TVC syndicate area. I studied more, I continuously tried for more and eventually I got this. This took me a lot of patience, suffering, tolerating everyone else's comment but yeah, I was committed on my journey. Still a lot of journeys need to be covered. I am yet to work on a proper good feature film. I have my own stories to tell, so I am hoping to start on my feature film script as well, as soon as possible. Other than me, there are three more Bangladeshi students studying here in my batch, together I think we can help, encourage and inspire any newcomer who is passionate about filmmaking.
What advice would you give someone who wants to pursue this line of work?
Keep patience and also there was a viral folk song which had two lines that's very much needed in this field. "O manush, manush, tomar duto kana ar duto chokh. Dekhba ar shunba.Kintu ekta much toh, ektu kotha kom koba" (translation: Oh human, human you have two ears and two eyes. You see and hear. But you have one mouth, you speak a little less.")
Rather than talking a lot, people need to listen and observe more. Not just other people, knowing your own self is the hardest and most important to understand other's emotions. Only after that we can form our own stories. Other than that, it's not always needed to work with expensive film cameras, sound devices or editing software. Everyone has a smartphone these days, if someone wants to make a film, just take out your phone and start shooting like the way you always wanted to. Then try to make a narrative out of those footage in the editing table. And the sound too may follow or not follow the footage all the time. This should be the filmmaker's own creative choice. In our leisure time we have made films in this way and those too got selected into foreign film festivals. Obviously those are not something like Cannes, but we kept on our practices which eventually led us to the one from which we are getting the recognition, finally.
With his wealth of knowledge and such nuanced perspective on the world, art creators like him give the future generations hope and drive. It’s only a matter of time he reaches new heights.
