Bangladeshi film Under Construction will be having its world premiere at America’s top-ranked Seattle International Film Festival, the largest and most highly-attended event of its kind in the United States. The 25-day Seattle International Film Festival has been a huge success for enticing a larger number of attendees each year, featuring more than 400 films from all over the world, as well as attracting hundreds of directors, actors and industry professionals; presenting awards for Best New Director, Best Documentary, Best New American Film and the Golden Space Needle Audience Award.
The festival’s artistic director, Carl Spence, and the director of programming, Beth Barrett, jointly extended their invitation to Under Construction by Rubaiyat Hossain as an official selection, and selected the film for their main competition The New Directors Showcase that includes only 12 films of current trends from all over the world, representing the freshest and most exciting perspectives in global cinema.
In the invitation letter they have stated, “We are very happy to inform you that Under Construction has been selected to be in competition at the 2015 Seattle International Film Festival. ‘The New Directors Showcase’ is one of the most eagerly awaited programs in the festival, and represents films that our programmers feel are among the best of the fest. It is a juried competition featuring a selection of international directors who are clearly emerging as major talents. Each of these films is chosen on the basis of its original conception, striking style and overall excellence.”
Debut directors who had their recognition at Seattle International Film Festival includes many important names such as Ridley Scott, Gus Van Sant, Danny Boyle, Niki Caro and Richared Linklater. Former Golden Space Needle Award winners are Richard Linklater’s Boyhood, Niki Caro’s Whale Rider, Tom Tyker’s Run Lola Run, Fons Rademakers’s The Assault, Ang Lee’s Wedding Banquet, Lars von Trier’s Kingdom, Lasse Hallström’s My Life as a Dog, Yang Zhang’s Shower and Doris Dörrie’s Cherry Blossoms among others.
Writer and director of Under Construction Rubaiyat Hossain has been invited to attend the 41st edition of the festival this year and the closing ceremony on June 7, as well as to meet the audience prior to her film’s screenings on June 6 and 7 at SIFF Cinema Uptown.
Rubaiyat Hossain’s 2nd feature film Under Construction is about a woman struggling to find herself in the sprawl of urban Bangladesh, where actress Roya reconstructs Rakta Karabi or Red Oleanders, by Rabindranath Tagore for modern times, reclaiming her agency in the process.
The casting of the film includes Shahana Goswami, Mita Chowdhury, Rikita Nandini, Rahul Bose, Shahadat Hossain in major roles. Shayan Chowdhury Ornob has composed the background score and music while Sahana Bajpaie sang tomay gaan shonabo by Rabindranath Tagore. The film has been produced by Khona Talkies.
Under Construction will be theatrically released in Bangladesh on July 31 of this year.
