Bangladesh to see its first crowdfunded film

In the Bangladeshi film industry, it is assumed that the producers are liable for all expenses for making a film and enjoy the profit.

In the 1990s, the government introduced a grant aiming to flourish in the industry and patronise better films and it brought some positive impact on the industry. 

For independent filmmakers, the issue of funding comes as an obstacle as both the commercial producers’ investment and the government’s funding always demand return. 

As an alternative mode of funding, the idea of crowd-financing came to independent filmmakers and they also became quite successful.

Following their footsteps, veteran Bangladeshi filmmaker Abu Sayeed is coming up with the idea in Bangladesh’s mainstream film arena for his upcoming film ‘Sangjog’.

An embarrassed Abu Sayeed told The Business Post that he thought of crowdfunding after failing to secure the government grant to make film despite being topping the list of eligibility.

“It was so disappointing. That is why I decided that I won’t go to any producer for making this film,” said Abu Sayeed.

He also raised his voice against the process of picking films for government funding and held a news conference where accused the grant committee of being biased toward certain quarters.

In 2015, the national award-winning filmmaker decided to make the film ‘Sangjog’ on crowdfunding.

Sayeed started his fundraising journey through an event held at the Central Public Library and could collect around Tk 4 to 5 lakh which paved the way to start shooting of ‘Sangjog’.

It took seven long years for Sayeed to complete the shooting of ‘Sangjog’ and the post-production works are yet to begin.

For Abu Sayeed ‘Sangjog’ is an important project as it is the first Bangladeshi film being made on crowdfunding.

“I started the shooting at that time but faced a funding crisis. So, I had to put it on a hold. Later, in May 2016, I got the idea of making a minimalistic experimental film ‘Ekjon Kobir Mrityu’ with the amount I collected for ‘Sangjog’. Though completing of ‘Sangjog’ was taking time, I made ‘Ekjan Kabir Mrityu’, and it was completed soon and premiered at the Kolkata International Film Festival,” said the director. Thus ‘Ekjon Kobir Mrityu’ became Bangladesh’s first feature film made through crowd-funding.

The film got the censor board’s clearance and got its world premiere at the Kolkata International Film Festival in November 2017 and it became the inspiration to finish ‘Sangjog’, said Sayeed.

After six years, the shooting for ‘Sangjog’ resumed and the work is almost done. Actor Shajal is playing the central character and it will be science fiction. The focus of the film will be the digital surveillance of the masses.

“We all are already under surveillance but what if the monetisation technology goes more advanced? The story of ‘Sangjog’ is based on that,” said Abu Sayeed.

The film is expected to be completed by June 2022 and Abu Sayeed wishes to release both the films - ‘Ekjon Kobir Mrityu’ and ‘Sangjog’ - this year.

Abu Sayeed said he first got to know about crowdfunding films while attending a workshop in Kerala in the 1990s. “There I heard of the film ‘Amma Ariyan’ directed by John Abraham in 1986 which he made with crowd-funding. Now crowd-funding films have become a way much bigger concept worldwide. Indiegogo, and Kickstarter are full-fledged companies that work with crowd-funding. I have a plan to give it the form of a not-for-profit organisation,” said Abu Sayeed.

Public financing is generally considered to be a form of raising money for making film money that is collected as donation or charity, he said, sometimes it is also considered disrespectful. Now the question is if there is any underlying power of this hand-leaf money or mass financing?

“The funding that people are donating is considered a donation. This amount won’t be refundable, they won’t be getting any dividend or profit but they will be getting some kind of benefit. The profit that the film would make will be reinvested in filmmaking. But for those who are working on this project, every single one must get paid for their contribution. All the artistes, crew members, spot boys and everyone get paid. This way crowd-funding can become an alternative economic system,” said the director.

Shyam Benegal’s 1976 film Manthan is the first crowd-funded film in the world. The title sequence of the film includes the line “500,000 farmers of Gujarat present”. Each farmer of the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Federation contributed two rupees for the production. Made on a budget of Rs 10 lakh, the film may well be the first feature in the world made without the involvement of a production house.

Such practice made the industry more market-oriented and developed the notion that movies failing to meet the market demand market fail to make a profit.