‘Rickshaw Girl’ wins Best Narrative Feature at Prescott fest

Bangladeshi filmmaker Amitabh Reza Chowdhury’s ‘Rickshaw Girl’ has won Jury and Audience Choice awards for Best Narrative Feature at the 11th edition of Prescott International Film Festival.

Director Amitabh took to his Facebook account to share the virtual award ceremony of the festival.

Prescott Film Festival director Helen Stephenson said, “We can’t recall any other time when the Jury Awards and the Audience Choice Awards matched exactly. I consider it a testament to the quality of this year’s films.”

The film is based on the acclaimed novel by Mitali Perkins. The screenplay is jointly written by Naseef Faruque Amin and Sharbari Z Ahmed.

‘Rickshaw Girl’ portrays the story of Naima, who wants to earn money for her poor family but finds that her unparalleled artistic talent is useless. When her father falls seriously ill, Naima feels compelled to leave her little hamlet for Dhaka. In the busy city, she impersonates a boy and works as a rickshaw puller.

Prescott International Film Festival was held from October 14 to 16 at the Yavapai College Prescott Campus in Arizona of the US.

At the festival, documentary film ‘Mission Joy: Finding Happiness in Troubled Times’ directed by Louie Psihoyos and Peggy Callahan, depicting the chronicle of friendship between Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama, also won both Jury and Audience Choice awards for Best Documentary Feature.

‘Rickshaw girl’ features Novera Ahmed in the lead role. It also stars Naresh Bhuiyan, Allen Shubhro Gomes, Momena Chowdhury and Champa.

The film recently bagged the top prize at the Schlingel International Film Festival 2021 held in Germany.