5 Bangladeshi films to be screened at London-based film fest

The 24th edition of the Rainbow International Film Festival is going to begin on Monday at the Genesis Cinema on Mile End Road, East London. Alongside screening 45 films from different countries, five films from Bangladesh will be shown at the festival.

The five films are ‘Beauty Circus’, ‘Saatao’, ‘Damal’, ‘Paap Punno’ and ‘JK-1971’.

The eight-day-long festival will open with the West Bengal film, ‘Beche Thakar Gaan’ while the Jaya Ahsan starrer ‘Beauty Circus’, will be screened on the second day (May 29). ‘Sataao’ will screen on May 30, ‘Damal’ on May 31, ‘Paap Punno’ on June 3, and ‘JK 1971’ will have its screening on the final day, at the Kenneth More Theatre in Ilford.

Jaya Ahsan-starrer much-talked about film ‘Beauty Circus’ directed by Mahmud Didar revolves around a woman who makes a living by performing in the circus. Jaya Ahsan is playing the lead role and the name of her character is Beauty. The film also casts Ferdous Ahmed, Tauquir Ahmed, Gazi Rakayet, ABM Sumon, Shatabdi Wadud, Humayun Kabir Sadhu, and others.

Director Raihan Rafi regained his spot in the limelight with ‘Damal’. The film is a Bangladeshi period drama film produced by Impress Telefilms. The story is based on true events and untold history, it revolves around two football teams from different eras: the legendary Shadhin Bangla Football Team and a similar team from the present. The film features Sariful Razz, Bidya Sinha Saha Mim, Siam Ahmed, and Shahnaz Sumi in the lead roles. The film was released on October 28th.

The story of ‘Saatao’ revolves around the life struggles of farmers and the universal struggles of women from marginalized backgrounds. The story of the film goes as Fazlu, a farmer, worries that his wife Putul will get lonely, staying home alone. So he gives her a cow. Thus, Putul gets a new companion and starts forgetting the pain of leaving her father’s house. Meanwhile, farmers like Fazlu are struggling as a result of the poor environmental situation.

Giasuddin Selim’s ‘Paap Punno’ is a story of how people pay the price of their sins in their lifetime or how people sometimes pay the price of sins they didn’t commit. It is a love story in a rural setting with a mysterious twist in the end. Chanchal Chowdhury will be the main protagonist in the film and Farzana Chumki will play the role of his wife. The cast of the film includes Chanchal, Afsana, Siam, Shumi, and Chumki.

Fakhrul Arefeen Khan’s film ‘JK 1971’ Bangladesh’s first English language movie on the 1971 Liberation War is based on a true incident, the film features the real-life story of Jean Kay, a young Frenchman, who hijacked a plane of Pakistan International Airlines just after the vehicle took off on December 3, 1971, in Paris, demanding 20 tonnes of emergency child medicine for Bangladeshi refugees during the Liberation War.

Awards will be presented to films in various categories at the Kenneth More Theatre in Ilford on the final day of the festival on June 4.

Awards will be given in multiple categories including ‘Best Picture’, ‘Best Documentary’, ‘Best Director’, ‘Best Critics’ Choice Movie’, and ‘Best Short’.

The jury board members for this year’s festival are Robert Phillips, Jayashree Kabir, Pulak Gupta, Syed Anas Pasha, Zaki Rejoana, Sadek Ahmed Chowdhury, Syed Muqib Ahmed, and Nadia Ali.

Apart from the festival, Indian Bengali films ‘Abhijaan’, ‘Aparajito’, ‘Ballabhpurer Roopkotha’, ‘Byomkesh Hatyamancha’, ‘Karnasubarner Guptodhon’ and ‘The Eken’ will also be available online on the website of Rainbow Film Society.

The festival will also host a women-only workshop on ‘Women in Film’. In this day-long workshop on June 3, a short film will be produced.

The first edition of the festival was held in London in 2000, under the initiative of Mustafa Kamal, leader of the Rainbow Film Society. Since then, this film festival has taken place every year.

The festival has been organised by the Rainbow Society.