Student Oscar winner Bangladeshi filmmaker Maksud Hossain’s debut directorial feature "Saba" had its premiere at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival on September 7. The director, along with the film's leads Mehazabien Chowdhury and Mostafa Monwar attended the show with a housefull audience.
The film revolves around Saba and her relationship with her aging mother. With her father missing, Saba is the sole caregiver to her paraplegic mother, Shirin, who suffers from acute heart disease. Although Shirin's condition binds them together, her frustration with their situation often manifests as bitterness and anger towards her daughter, so they live in their own separate worlds.
In Saba, Hossain developed each of his character’s struggles and challenges to be seen through the cruel lens of reality. As one of the characters says, “We are breathing to barely survive here,” it displays the tragic nature of their lives.
According to Hossain, the casting of film was extremely crucial for the final product to come out as good. He had auditioned numerous actors before selecting Mehazabien Chowdhury to play the main character, Saba. And veteran actor Rokeya Prachy was selected to play Saba’s mother. Mostafa Monwar played Ankur.
“Saba” is a dream come true for Hossain, who has dreamt of directing feature films all through his youth. He has previously directed 15 short films, which includes “Three Beauties” which won a Student Academy Award.
The producers of “Saba” are Uri Singer (“White Noise”), Arifur Rahman, Tamim Abdul Majid. Cinematography is by Barkat Hossain Polash. Co-producers include Leena Khobragade, Kowsheek, Juan J. Lazo Jr, Humair Sabir and Nafis Uddin.
"Saba" will also screen on September 8 and 14 at Tiff and is set to be featured at the Busan International Film Festival, which will take place from October 2-11.