Negligence fired me up: Shishir

Gariwala, a feature film directed by Ashraf Shishir, won the best film award at the 7th Picnic Film Festival in Spain recently. This movie has bagged some awards in other international fests as well. The film-maker talked to Prothom Alo recently.

How many accolades Gariwala bagged? How many fests have this movie participated in so far?

Gariwala has participated in 37 international festivals across 16 countries. It received eight awards in different international film festivals so far.

What kind of response you received at home?

Gariwala was started off as a short film with government fund. Later, I decided to turn it into a feature film, because I wanted to release my film in cinema halls.

I went to producers and hall owners with Gariwala and faced negligence in every step. All these discouragement and negligence actually fired me up, which eventually lead me to winning those international awards. 

Does that mean people in Bangladesh cannot watch Gariwala?

A movie is incomplete if it doesn’t get released in cinema halls. I would definitely release my movie at home. The full length Gariwala was produced under the banner of Impress Telefilm. I am hoping to release the movie in Bangladesh within two months or so.

What keeps you busy these days?

We started working for the movie Amra Ekti Cinema Bananbo back in 2009. I want to restart that project again under the banner of Impress Telefilm.