Television (Mostofa Sarwar Farooki) Bangladesh |

Television
Mostofa Sarwar Farooki
Bangladesh. 2012. 106 min

As a leader of the local community, Chairman Amin bans every kind of image in his water- locked village in rural Bangladesh since he considers it to be UN-ISLAMIC. He even goes on to claim that imagination is also sinful since it gives one the license to infiltrate into any prohibited territory. But change is a desperate wind that is difficult to resist by shutting the window. The tension between this traditional window and modern wind grows to such an extent that it starts to leave a ripple effect on the lives of a group of typically colorful, eccentric, and emotional people living in that village. But at the very end of the film, Television, which he hated so much, comes to the rescue and helps Chairman Amin reach a transcendental state where he and his God are unified. A new twist to the story makes him embrace IMAGE and IMAGINATION.

MOSTOFA SARWAR FAROOKI

“Mostofa Sarwar Farooki could be the next South-East Asian filmmaker to break out”, The Hollywood Reporter wrote in the review of his film Television. Variety’s Jay Weissberg wrote, “Mostofa Sarwar Farooki is a key exemplar of Bangladeshi new wave cinema movement” and Variety’s Chief Asia Film Critic Maggie Lee wrote “Mostofa Sarwar Farooki proves he’s a singular voice in Bangladeshi cinema” in the review his film No Bed Of Roses.

His fourth feature Television was the closing film of Busan festival and won Grand Jury Prize in Asia Pacific Screen Award 2013 in addition to 5 more international awards from Dubai, Jogja-Indonesia, Asiatica-Roma, and Kolkata. Ant Story was his fifth feature and got nominated for Golden Goblet Awards and Muhr Asia-Africa Awards.It is also in competition for Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2014, Singapore IFF 2014, and Kerala IFF 2014.

His sixth feature titled “Doob” (No Bed of Roses in English) featuring Irrfan Khan (Life of Pie, Lunchbox), Nusrat Imrose Tisha (Television, Third Person Singular) and others, won Kommersant Jury Prize at Moscow International Film Festival. The film got rave reviews and critical acclaim. It was Bangladesh’s entry to the 91^st Oscars.

DIRECTOR,S NOTE

I was born and brought up in a very conservative middle class Muslim family. We never had a television set in our house just because my parents used to consider it to be un-Islamic. We had to sneak in to other houses to catch a glimpse of the magic box. My parents always used to stand against any kind of image. Their fight against image first got a big shake when they were asked to take photographs in order to go for Hajj- Muslim pilgrimage in Mekkah. But this is not an issue of the yesteryears. With all the technological development taking place across the country, this perception is also co-existing in the backward areas of the society.

AWARDS

Closing film in Busan International Film Festival 2012 (world premiere)
Winner, Jury Grand Prize, Asia Pacific Screen Award, 2013.
Nominated, Best Film, Asia Pacific Screen Award, 2013.
Nominated, Best Screenplay, Asia Pacific Screen Award, 2013.
Winner, City of Rome award (jury) for best Asian Feature Film, Asiatica 2013, Rome-Italy.
Winner, Best Feature Film, Audience Award, Asiatica 2013, Rome-Italy.
Winner, Golden Hanuman Award, Jogja Asian Film Festival, 2013
Winner NETPAC award Kolkata International Film Festival, 2013
Winner, Special Mention Award, Muhr AsiaAfrica, Dubai International Film Festival 2012
Bangladesh’s submission to 86th Academy award foreign language category.

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