Film festival to mark 40 years of Muktijuddha

KOLKATA: The Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971 will come alive on screen at a film festival in Kolkata next month. Six films based on the muktijuddha and the destruction that followed the war will be part of the festival titled 'Bangladesh War of Liberation in Celluloid' at Nandan-I from December 9 to 11. Being jointly organized by Bangladesh High Commission, New Delhi, the Directorate of Film Festivals, ministry of information & broadcasting, Government of India, in collaboration with the government of West Bengal, the festival marks 40 years of the liberation war.
"Matir Moyna", directed by the late Tareque Masud will kick off the festival. The film tells the story of a family tom apart by religion and war. Based on the director's own childhood, this acclaimed film follows a young boy, Anu, who is sent off to a strict Islamic school mirroring a growing divide between the stubborn but confused Kazi and his increasingly independent wife. Matior Moyna touches on the sensitive themes of religious tolerance, cultural diversity and the complexity of Islam.
"Khelaghar" and "Amar Bondhu Rasheed", both directed by Morshedul Islam, "Joyjatra" directed by Tauquir Ahmed, "Khondo Golpo" by Badrul Anam Saud and "Guerilla" by Naseruddin Yousuff are the other films to be screened. While each of these films have the liberation war as the theme, they look at various aspects of the muktijuddha and the issues that it left for the newly born Bangladesh to deal with.
"Joyjatra", for instance, depicts the story of an idyllic village where life changes forever as the Pakistani army launches a brutal offensive prior to the war. Based on Amjad Hossain's novel 'Obelay Osomoy', it shows how survivors have to flee their ancestral homes and reach a camp where they are trained in guerrilla warfare to fight the enemy.
"Amar Bondhu Rasheed" is a poignant tale of a young village boy who is forgotten and left behind as the war breaks out. After months of violence and destruction, when the war stops and villagers return, there's no trace of him.
"Guerilla", on the other hand, is the saga of a woman who takes up arms to fight the Pakistani army. Based on a novel and inspired by true events, Nasiruddin Yousuff's film is a tribute to the 20,000 women guerillas who rubbed shoulders with their men to fight the war. It was screened at the Kolkata Film Festival (KFF) earlier this month and won the NETPAC award for the best Asian film.
The pain and the trauma that people had to endure in the aftermath of the war is the theme of "Khondo Golpo" - 1971. Directors of the films will be present at the festival. Some actors, including Joya Ahsan who starred in "Guerilla", could be present as well. Masud's wife Catherine has been invited. "She will have to be present in Dhaka for the commercial release of Masud's last film "Runway" that has coincided with the inauguration of the festival. So, she is likely to be absent," said one of the organizers.
The controversial film "Meherjaan", that had been at the centre of a storm for depicting a relationship between a Pakistani soldier and a Bangladeshi girl in the backdrop of the 1971 war, does not feature in the festival, though. It was screened at the KFF to a packed auditorium.