Starting Sunday, September 8, Channel 4 will present the South Asian film season. This year there will be eight films from 4 different countries.
This year’s season includes the work of filmmakers from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and spans drama, thriller, documentary and social realism, exploring themes of class, racial, political and gender divides.
Among these 8, 2 are directed by Bangladeshi directors Barir Naam Shahana (A House Named Shahana) by Leesa Gazi and Something Like An Autobiography by Mostofa Sarwar Farooki and Nusrat Imrose Tisha.
Barir Naam Shahana (A House Named Shahana) follows the story of Dipa, an independent Muslim woman who, against her wishes, is married off to a Bengali widower living in the UK. She finds, once she arrives in Britain, that she is expected to conform to an orthodox lifestyle. Accepting the marriage is against all her instincts, she returns to Bangladesh where ultimately she has to defy all social and family pressures.
The film premiered last year at the Jio Mami Mumbai Film Festival and won the Gender Sensitivity Award.
Something Like An Autobiography follows the real life couple Mostofa Sarwar Farooki and Nusrat Imrose Tisha. Named Farhan and Tithi who, after ten years of a childless marriage, decide to try for a baby using IVF. One night, when Farhan goes to his neighbours to complain about a noisy party, their world is unexpectantly turned upside down.
