Bangladeshi model and TV actor Sabila Nur starred in a short film titled “A Toy Operation Theater,” a story that raises concerns about sexual abuse towards children in Bangladesh. A pressing matter that goes unnoticed and unrevealed, the film quite innocently unveils an unspoken truth that meddles in this society.
Starring Sabila, Maisha Tahiya and Nusrat Jahan Nodi in the lead with other child actors, the film was released by an online awareness campaign page called the Tigers’ Cubs on December 16, Bangladesh’s Victory Day.
With a Wes Anderson-esque cinematography, stark colours, symmetrical shots and the upbeat performances, the film’s concept was contrasted with the dark, yet truth, reality during its climax.
The film was conceived on the grounds of creating awareness against child sexual abuse in Bangladesh. Although the film does not delve into extreme details, it sure does question the societal issue. Hence, the online campaign that released the film aims to find a solution to this damning reality.
Dhaka Tribune’s Showtime got in touch with the film’s director, producer and actor, wanting to know their personal views and experience with the project and beyond.
Written by Kishor Pasha Imon, Md Tamhid Ul Islam Nafi and Iffat Oishi, and directed by Md Tamhid Ul Islam Nafi, the film tells the story of an exceptional operation theater run by a doctor and a nurse. Here, the patients are broken or damaged toys brought in by their owners. Every case presented is strange and special, but the doctor is an expert at solving them all until she faces the strangest case of her career.
Not to give too much away, Tamhid, the director of the film, said he perceived the idea after listening to heartbreaking stories of child abuse. Henceforth, he approached some of his close friends with the story to turn it to a film. “I also wanted to make a film that would raise awareness against child abuse,” Tamhid said.
“To have worked with children, which is considered one of the toughest tasks in filmmaking; it was eye opening for me. The kids were absolute professionals and I loved working with them,” he said.
He added: “The complete shooting took place in one day. I am really grateful to my crew. Our collective effort made the film spiritually and visually appealing. I hope people will like the film.”
“A Toy Operation Theater” was produced by Siad Arefeen, Ahmed Imtiaz Mohammad and Nagib Mahfuz, and is currently being promoted by Tigers’ Cubs.
Tigers’ Cubs is an online awareness campaign on Facebook that wishes to proactively tackle the issue of sexual abuse among children in Bangladesh, and hopefully, globally.
According to Tigers’ Cubs’ research, they have found that over 500 children are being raped in Bangladesh each year, while uncountable children are getting sexually harassed. Globally, the scenario is also gloomy, as much as 287 million children were also subject to sexual abuse, as per estimation from World Health Organization (WHO) and state.gov (US).
Therefore, Tigers’ Cubs was chosen to encourage the adults into participation, and cubs (children) as beneficiary of the project. To address both the vision is to bring communities, academia and workplaces to make their surroundings safer for children and promote communication and courage.
Siad Arefeen, one of the producers of the film and founder of Tigers’ Cubs said that a short film is inadequate to change peoples’ perception. He said: “The main problem is not the difficulty of accessing every corner of the country, as many experts believe. The underlying fault is that we have maimed our children for far too long and this has been passing down generations.”
Talking about the campaign’s goals and targets, Siad said: “In order to come out of the status quo, the target is to speak with the adults first. We need to go to them, speak with them, convince them, and turn them into strong advocates of the cause.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/embed/6FfY-mE7OZY[/embed]
“The children will only begin to understand that their words and actions are worth something. I think the issue will get much grimier, if preventive measures are not taken immediately.”
Sabila Nur, who is plays the role of a nurse and one of the leads in the film, also talked about her experience of working on such project. She said: "I like to tell stories and ‘A Toy Operation Theater’ has an extremely significant message told through a very delightful story. I am hopeful that audience will love this short film."
So far, the short film has won several national awards and is currently in competition at various well-reputed film festivals, locally and internationally. So far, the film has won the Tareque Masud Best Emerging Director award at the 9th Dhaka University International Film Festival this year.
The film also emerged as a winner at North South University Short Film Festival, and then won the awards for Best Film, Best Director and Best Script at IIUSSF 2017 by United International University.
“A Toy Operation Theater” is also an official selection at the Twin Lion International Film Festival 2017 and is in competition at Kaohsiung Film Festival 2017.
The docu-fiction film was produced under 29 Code Films and promoted and marketed by Mind Flick, an emerging advertising agency.
A film that screams out a critical societal issue that is considered as taboo all over deserves its fair share of recognition. It is high time such topics are addressed and preventive measures are taken seriously.
