Nuhash Humayun came to the limelight recently by making a horror story-based web series, Pett Kata Shaw, for the video streaming platform Chorki. Just as soon as the excitement of the series started to die down, news arrived of his short film ‘Moshari’ winning a Jury Prize in Atlanta Film Festival.
In the meantime, he has signed contracts with the Hollywood-based Anonymous Content production company and CAA agency lately. He talked to Prothom Alo about signing with CAA and Anonymous Content, his upcoming project and more.
Q :
Congratulations!
Thanks
Q :
Tell us something about the nature of your contracts with Anonymous Content and CAA agency.
Those two companies have signed up as my agent and manager and not just for a single project, rather for my overall career - including all sorts of work that I do. They will bring me different projects from abroad, mostly Hollywood-based. All the international work is out there, they will bring me everything.
In fact, a project for an International OTT platform has arrived already. This is not for an OTT platform of Bangladesh or India. However, I’m unable to disclose the name of that OTT platform right now. The project has already been finalised. Discussions are on for few other projects as well.
Q :
Will these agencies be involved with just your Hollywood projects or with work done with other countries as well?
They are one of the top three agencies of Hollywood. They will bring me other international projects as well. But, the focus will be on Hollywood.
Q :
How much has this involvement with the agency pushed you towards your dreams and goals regarding content creation?
After being signed up with them I learnt about their strategy and the knowledge they have about the Hollywood industry. I didn’t have those knowledge before. I feel that there are a lot of creative people in our country but we lack networking. Many of us don’t have that access.
We have brilliant script writers, amazing stories and excellent directors here. But, this information needs to reach other industries across the world. Now when they have taken notice, it means we have that scope now. They are connecting me with people from the top industries around. And because of that I am getting work.
What we lack here actually is that access. We have no lacking of talent but we don’t have the connections. This is exactly what that agency has done and I found it wonderful. Plus, they are so helpful. They will remain this helpful throughout my whole career.
To me if feels like this will be beneficial for our entire industry. Because, when I’ll receive those foreign projects, no matter whether the shooting is done inside the country or not, I’ll always try to include as much local crew as possible.
All the Bangladeshi artistes and musicians we have are the ones that will be working in those projects as far as possible. I want our industry to learn from this opportunity, to whatever extent possible. This is a goal of mine.
This actually became possible when my short film ‘Moshari’ won the award at Atlanta Film Festival. Different agencies started contacting me, only after that. In fact, it is not possible to contact them on your own, neither is there any option to apply.
Q :
That means you believe this became possible because ‘Moshari’ won the award at Atlanta Film Festival?
Actually, this occurred following the South by Southwest Festival. The process began since then. After talking to several agencies, finally I signed the contract with them. I had many other options.
Q :
You are saying you are unable to disclose which international OTT it is, but have you finalised the project?
I am the writer and director of the project. It is a short film and the shooting will be done in Bangladesh. In fact, I have finalised everything. Soon, everyone will get to know the details about the project. Work has begun already. They have also locked the project. The shooting is about to start in July.
Q :
What’s the nature of this project?
It will be a fusion of many genres. There will be some comedy, some fantasy and horror as well. I’ll say, at the same time it will also be a political story.
Q :
How did it feel when ‘you won an award at Atlanta Film Festival for Moshari’? How much of an inspiration is this award is for your upcoming projects?
I would say it is an entirely new journey for me. The road I’m taking, I don’t know any Bangladeshis that have been to that place before. I have been talking to people who do the campaigning for the Oscar, the campaign managers, and learning about this and that from them. The whole thing is new to me. I am finding it very exciting.
Actually, I didn’t even think I would be able to come this far. Because, it’s a horror content and I didn’t believe it would go that far from Bangladesh, let alone win a jury award. This indeed is a matter of pride for me. It’s inspirational because it proves that we can make films of different genres from Bangladesh and they can gain international recognition as well.
The content doesn’t necessarily have to be similar in nature. It could be a horror content; the next person might do something different, something more original than me. To me, this is extremely optimistic that diverse contents are going abroad from Bangladesh, not just one type of film or just art films.