Aupee Karim and Ritwik Chakraborty starrer, Debris of Desire, has won the Jury Award in the Encounter with Asian Cinema section at the 21st Asiatica Film Festival. Out of eight selected films in the category, the Bangladesh-India joint production won this prestigious award alongside Chinese film, Cloud In Her Room, that won the Tiger Prize in Rotterdam this year.
Produced by Bangladeshi filmmaker Josim Ahmed and directed by Indranil Roychowdhury, the story is based on Manik Bandopadhyay's short stories, Bishakto Prem and Shubala. The plot revolves around a petty criminal (Sohel Mondol), who falls in love with a prostitute (Chandreyee Ghosh) and wants to run away with her savings. Things change when he meets a laid-off factory worker who is desperate to stop his wife from working as a housemaid.
Also read: Ritwik Chakraborty on ‘Debris of Desire’: It is not one of those art-house films
Producer Josim Ahmed told Dhaka Tribune Showtime: “This is our first international award. In these difficult times, it is a source of relief to us. It’s inspiring to win this award from an important European festival of Asian cinema. I want to congratulate the director and the team and thank the festival officials for conferring this honour.”
Debris of Desire (Mayar Jonjal) was officially selected at the 42nd Moscow International Film Festival in the Films Around the World category. Previously, the film had its premiere at the 23rd Shanghai International Film Festival, competing for the Asian New Talent Award. The plot revolves around a petty criminal (Sohel Mondol from Taqdeer), who falls in love with a prostitute (Indian actor Chandreyee Ghosh) and wants to run away with her savings. Things change when he meets a laid-off factory worker (Ritwick Chakraborty) who is desperate to stop his wife (Aupee Karim) from working as a housemaid.
Asiatica Film Festival (December 18-23) was held virtually due to the pandemic.
