12 Bangladeshi films selected at Ekadeshma film festival

Ekadeshma International Short Film Festival at Kathmandu, Nepal, has made Bangladesh its focus country this year. The festival authority declared the 12 selected films, which will be screened at the festival for their segment “Made in Bangladesh,” in a post on their official Facebook page on Friday. The 5th edition of the festival will start from October 16 and end on October 19. This year’s theme is “Let there be light.” The organizers of the festival think that these extraordinary films will be the torchbearers for the next generation’s independent filmmakers. The selected films from Bangladesh for the "Made in Bangladesh" section are Razib Ahsan’s Puppet, Saiful Fardin’s Boat of Life Going to Pahartali, Abrar Athar’s Life in Other Words, Nuruzzaman Khan’s Chicken Fox,  Tasmiah Afrin Mou’s Statement After My Poet Husband’s Death, Mahde Hasan’s Death of a Reader, Nuruzzaman Khan’s Men with No Name, Jannatul Ferdous Ivy’s Nirobey, Abu Shahed Emon’s The Container, Mahmud Abu Naser’s MRP, Fahad Khan’s Cold Storage and Ishtiaque Zico’s 720 Degrees. A post on the official facebook page of the festival said: “With the intention of exploring the achievements of the South Asian independent cinemas and bringing forward the wonderful, and often unexplored stories of the sub-continent, Ekadeshma initiated the idea of dedicating an entire section of its Festival to one specific South Asian nation, every year. Last year it was Bhutan with ‘Enter the Dragon’. This year, it's ‘Made in Bangladesh’.” Filmmakers, enthusiasts and critics of Bangladesh have praised the film festival's decision to make Bangladesh as its focus country this year on social media. Showtime contacted one of the participating filmmakers, Razib Ahsan, whose film Puppet made it on to the list for Ekadeshma. He told Showtime: “This is a huge honor for us, that Ekadeshma International Short Film Festival has made a separate segment called ‘Made in Bangladesh’ for Bangladeshi independent films. 12 Bangladeshi films will be shown at the same festival and that is a great news.” “This segment will also help international audience to understand the recent Bangladeshi indie filmmakers’ work and style,” he added. Razib’s Puppet is based on the play The Dumb Waiter, written by renowned British playwright Harold Pinter. The film premiered at the 22nd Kolkata International Film Festival and was also officially screened at more than 12 international film festivals. Furthermore, it was recently selected for the Toronto International Independent Film Festival this year.