Bangladeshi film wins at Moscow Film Festival, director ‘still shaking’
Bangladeshi film ‘Nirvana’ wins special jury award at Moscow Film Festival. The news of the film winning the award was reported from Russia by the director himself.
On Friday night, director of the film Asif Islam told Prothom Alo from Russia that he couldn’t believe his ears after hearing the announcement of the award. He’s still shaking with the award in his hands.
Asif said, “This is one of the greatest achievements of my life. Out of thousands of films from across the world, only 11 films have made it to the official selection. Out of these 11, our film has own the special jury award.”
“I was stunned after the name of our film was announced. I was still in a daze after receiving the award. Even now I am shaking and feeling dumbstruck. This achievement has given us a lot,” he added.
The Moscow Film Festival started on 19 April and Friday, 26 April, was the closing. Director Asif Islam attended the event throughout from the beginning till the end.
He said, “Today was the closing ceremony. I didn’t think I would get an award. I’ll be in Russia just for a few more hours. I’ll be in Bangladesh tomorrow.”
“The way the journalists and producers who have come to Russia are trying to contact me now, might not be happening anymore. I’ll miss a lot of the things. I am able to return to Bangladesh with an award and that’s a big achievement for me,” he added.
The shooting of the film ‘Nirvana’ started in 2022. Covid had broken out and people were dying. In that time of panic, young director Asif Islam had the idea of making a film with a small crew.
With focus on the story, he started working on the experimental film. This is the first film for this director and he took his time.
Asif also stated that in the beginning the script of the film was very short. They only had an idea of the film. He had the writer of the film with him. The two of them were together in the shooting also.
Day after day, they spent time founding this silent film. “This award is making us dream even bigger. It’s very good news for our industry," said the director.
Actress Priyam Archi played the central role in the film. She heard the news of their film winning the award already on Friday night.
Priyam told Prothom Alo from the UK, “I don’t know to express this happiness. Everything seems like a dream. The director himself gave me the news. After hearing the news I was thinking that the film had started with just two people. Then four actresses joined in. I am thinking more about the events behind the making of the film.”
“I can only think of the hard work put in by the director of the film Asif Islam and the writer Anwar Hossain. The journey our team had embarked on is successful today. This achievement will inspire us,” she added.
Back in 2019, Mostofa Sarwar Farooki’s film ‘Shonibar Bikel’ was selected for the main category in the 41st Moscow International Film Festival. The film ‘Shonibar Bikel’ won two independent jury awards, the Russian federation of film critics’ jury award and the Kommersant award that time.
In 2022, Juboraj Shamim’s film ‘Adim’ was nominated in the main competition category of Moscow International Film Festival. The next year, Nurul Alam Atiq’s ‘Peyarar Subash’ made it to the official selection.
Earlier commenting on the story of the film Priyam Archi had told Prothom Alo, “There are no dialogues in our film. Pictures from the lives of three workers have been featured in the film. A lot of the psychological issues have been shown in here. There are many stories behind the coming and going of a factory worker and those have been highlighted in the film.”
“We compared the film to meditation. Just as it is difficult to enter the state of mediation at the beginning but it’s doesn’t seem so difficult once you have entered it. Viewers were saying the same thing after watching the film. We were a tad worried about the slow pace of the film but now it seems we have passed that test,” Priyam had added.
Meanwhile, the award of the best director of the festival went to Iranian film ‘Breath of Cold’, directed by Nahid Azizi. The award of the best film went to ‘Shame’ which is co-produced by Mexico and Qatar. Juan Ramón López won the best actor award for his performance in ‘Shame’. The film ‘Lee’ has been selected the best film in Russia Premiere category.