Adnan Al Rajeev's short film 'Ali' made history in Cannes. The film received the judges' Special Mention award in the final hours of the 78th Cannes Film Festival.
The announcement was made at the closing ceremony at the Grand Theater Lumière at the Palais des Festivals, the heart of the festival, on Saturday (May 24) at 6:40 pm local time (10:40 pm Bangladesh time). The Palme d'Or in the short film category went to Israel's Tawfeek Barhom's 'I'm Glad You're Dead Now'.
German director Maren Ade, the head judge of this year's short film and La Cinéphe categories, announced the special mention to 'Ali' on the stage of the awards ceremony. Then, when Bangladeshi filmmaker Adnan Al Rajeev, who was sitting in the guest row, stood up, everyone showered him with applause and congratulations.
This year, 4,781 short films have been submitted to Cannes. Out of these, 11 films were selected for competition. Bangladesh's 'Ali' is one of them.
This is the first Bangladeshi film in the short film category in the history of Cannes.
The story of the 15-minute film directed by Adnan Al Rajeev centers on a teenager. He lives in a coastal city in Bangladesh, where women are not allowed to sing. Ali enters a singing competition to get a chance to move to the city. The amazing thing is, he can also sing with a female voice. Al Amin played this role.
The judges for the Short Film and La Cinéphe categories, led by Maren Ade, were American director Reinaldo Marcus Green, French singer-actress Camelia Jordana, Spanish producer José María Prado García, and Croatian director Nebojša Slijepčević.