Abu Shahed Emon’s debut film, Jalal’s Story, Bangladesh’s official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film category of the upcoming 88th Academy Awards, will be facing competition from 80 other films from different countries.
Jalal’s Story, a tale of an orphan found by a river, adopted and abandoned by a series of father figures and who eventually becomes a gangster, will face stiff competition from films like Jami’s Moor (Pakistan), Chaitanya Tamhane’s Court (India), Claudio Caligari’s Don’t Be Bad (Italy), Deniz Gamze Erguven’s Mustang (France), Greg Sneddon’s Arrows of the Thunder Dragon (Australia), Nischal Basnet’s Talakjung vs Tulke (Nepal) and Kevin Allen’s Under Milk Wood (Britain), among others.
Though Bangladesh has never nominated in the category, Jalal’s Story seems a hopeful contender. Bangladesh’s first entry for Oscar in the category was in the 75th edition of the award in 2002 with Tareque Masud’s The Clay Bird.
Nine finalists will be short-listed, which will be whittled down to five nominees that will be announced on Jan 14, 2016. The 88th Academy Awards will take place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on February 28, 2016.
