‘The hero of the movie is a garments worker’

Rubaiyat HossainProthom Alo

‘Made in Bangladesh’ is the third movie of Bangladeshi filmmaker Rubaiyat Hossain. It has already been screened in over 70 movie theatres in France, Portugal and Denmark. It’s won awards too. The maker of ‘Meherjaan’ and ‘Under Construction’ talked over WhatsApp on Wednesday, in an interview with Prothom Alo.

Q:

Are you in New York right now?

No, I was, but because of cororavirus spreading there, I’ve come more to the interiors, to a village. I’m working peacefully here.

Congratulations on being elected as a board member of the Women In Film and Television International (WIFTI).

Thanks. They have selected 16 persons from six regions - the US, Oceania, Europe, Canada, Asia and Africa. This organisation works on various initiatives to bring about equality in the global film industry.

Q:

What is WIFT Bangladesh?

Women In Film and Television has opened a branch in Bangladesh, Tasmiah Afreen Mou, Humaiyra Bilkis, Fauzia Khan, Elizabeth D’ Costa and I have started with a Facebook group. For the time being, interested persons are getting together in this group. Later will have cinema exhibitions, have workshops on screenplays and filming. Our main objective is to being equality to our film industry.

Rubaiyat Hossain
Prothom Alo
Q:

Where is ‘Made in Bangladesh’ running now?

Today, 28 August, US viewers can watch it online. It will have a virtual theatrical release in 40 halls. After buying tickets, the viewers will receive the link to the film at a particular time by e-mail. Initially the film will be screened till 10 September and will be extended, depending on viewers’ interest.

The film is also running in Canada, Australia and France. The distributors there bought the film from my French producer Francois D’artemare. The film will also be released in China, Japan and Poland.

Q:

What about Bangladesh?

In Bangladesh I first want to release the movie in the halls. I prepared an application for a censor certificate, but then coronavirus came up and things have come to a halt for the time being.

Q:

Are you considering releasing it on an online platform?

Not for now. The hero of the movie is a garments worker. The movie tells the tale of her life’s struggle and her triumph. I want all this to be seen on the big screen, so people look up and watch. This is a kind of recognition. After that maybe I’ll release on an online platform.

This industry hasn’t really developed as it should have in Bangladesh. The director has all the hassle of releasing a movie in the halls. That is not a director’s work. This has exhausted me. Work on the next film gets delayed, is hampered. Right now I am a bit anxious about releasing this movie on the big screen in Bangladesh.

Q:

So what are you up to now?

I’ve made a short film, eight minutes of an omnibus movie. Forty makers of 40 countries from around the world have presented their countries in the film. As I am over here, I first refused the offer from the producer, but later he later explained to me that many people in this new reality, were directing long-distance. I agreed. My cinematographer, editor and sound designer are from Dhaka and composer from Denmark. After working for 15 or 16 years, virtually directing a short film is a completely new experience.

Then there is a move for funding and getting an international producer for Mehdi Hasan’s movie Sand City. We (Khona Talkies) are also producers for ‘Belonging’, a film of the Rohingya crisis directed by Abid Hossain Khan. The film is in the editing stage. And I’m writing the screenplay for a new film.

Q:

What is the environment like in Bangladesh for women filmmakers?

It is a bit better now than when I started out. There are quite a few young women filmmakers and producers working now. We have a woman film critic like Sadia Khalid. There are many more interested in this field.

However, being a filmmaker is a job where you have to move around a lot. That’s difficult in Bangladesh. I had family, financial and psychological support. Even when there was all that outcry over my movie ‘Meherjaan’, but family stood by me. Even so, it was quite difficult in the beginning. Now those coming in are having to struggle 200 per cent to make a place for themselves.

Rubaiyat Hossain
Prothom Alo
Q:

The day that Tareque Masud died, you commented that his ‘Matir Moina’ was the best movie of this country. What’s the second and third best?

No other Bangladeshi movie can come near to the cinematic craft of ‘Matir Moina’, its appeal as a historical movie, its depth of thought, its expansiveness and its art. So ‘Matir Moina’ comes first. There is no second or third.

There will be more films of this quality in our country. In 2001 I saw Yasmin Kabir’s ‘Porobashi Mon Amar’. It really inspired the maker in me. Then I like Mostafa Sarwar Farooki’s ‘Piprabidya’. It is rare, and daring indeed, to see the disintegration of a man’s masculinity in a film made by a man.

This report appeared in the print and online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten for the English edition by Ayesha Kabir