Bangladeshi film makes history at Cannes Film Festival 2021, director is elated

Cannes Film Festival 2021 edition is underway and  among this year’s intriguing batch of newcomers to the Riviera is 36-year-old screenwriter and director Abdullah Mohammad Saad, whose feature film “Rehana Maryam Noor” screened in the Un Certain Regard sidebar on Wednesday.

The film is first from Bangladesh to be part of the festival’s official line-up.

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“Rehana” is Saad’s second feature after his 2016 “Live from Dhaka”, which picked up a best director award at the Singapore International Film Festival and went on to appear in several European festivals. The movie mines the familiar territory of resilient and obstinate women battling injustice in a profoundly sexist environment.

In an interview with FRANCE 24, the 36-year-old screenwriter and director, says that “it’s a great inspiration and a huge honour to be here. To make a film requires a lot of sacrifice, devotion, time and energy, so when something like this happens it really inspires you to carry on.”

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“People back home were overwhelmed. It was an achievement more for them than for me. This year is the 50th anniversary of Bangladesh’s independence, so it actually brought more joy to people and also confidence to keep on making films,” added the director.

Saad also says that they have more challenges in Bangladesh if you compare with the more sophisticated film industries, but actually the financing was not such a struggle.

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“ I like to work with my friends, like I did in my previous film. And I was lucky to have my producer, Jeremy Chua, who also helped a lot with the writing.

“My lead actress put her heart and soul into the movie; whatever we needed she gave to us. My cinematographer went to the gym for more than a year, because I told him he would have to be very fit to do this production, because of the long takes and the hand-held camera. These are just a few examples of how the team helped me make this film,” said the maker.

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Rehana is not an obvious champion for the MeToo movement and the director says that his film “is an investigation of human nature.”

“ I didn’t write this from a political standpoint. Of course there is a very political aspect to this film. But I don’t see myself as a political filmmaker. I am very character-driven.

“What interests me is always this character and how complex she is. I didn’t try to portray her as a hero or champion of a movement, but more as a person and how she navigates this contemporary world,” said the director.