Rahebul Islam Titul, Lalmonirhat।
Filmmaker Mustaq Mujahid’s film from the remote area of Tushbhandar village of Kaliganj upazila of Lalmonirhat district is in the top list of Cannes World Film Festival. In this year’s edition, the only film from Bangladesh ‘Prathasiddha’ has made it.
It is known that this festival is held every year in Cannes, France. To submit a film to the festival, an application fee of $59 must be paid and various information requirements must be met. Mujahid sat in the village and kept the news of Cannes film festival, submitted his own films.
This young filmmaker said, ‘I submitted the short film ‘Prathasiddha’ to be made in March 2023 last June. This film is based on a large social tradition of different regions of our country. Its duration is 23 minutes. It is a very regional film. In which some local actors of Rangpur Lalmonirhat acted. None of whom are professionals. My elder brother Arman Hossain Apon assisted in the production of the film.
The question to this young filmmaker was, ‘You crossed the country and stepped into the international arena, what are your future plans for cinema?’ In response, he said, ‘My future plan with cinema is that I want to tell the authentic stories of my society, my country to the audience in my own way. I want to create those stories independently.’
He further added that earlier my two short films named ‘Juadi’ and ‘Palabar Rasta Nei’ were selected and screened at several festivals in the country and abroad. Such as Dhaka International Film Festival, Bangladesh International Children’s Film Festival, Sylhet and Bogra Film Festival, Cinemamaking International Film Festival, Ekannavarti Film Festival etc.