Two Bangladeshi films win awards at World Film Festival Kolkata

Two Bangladeshi films have won honours at the fifth World Film Festival Kolkata, with Piplu R Khan’s feature film Jaya Aar Sharmin taking the top prize and Makbul Chowdhury’s documentary Mamun: In Praise of Shadows receiving a jury mention.

Jaya Aar Sharmin won the Bimal Roy Golden Award for Best Feature Film at the festival, organised by the Eastern India chapter of the Federation of Film Societies of India at Nandan-3 in Kolkata from September 8 to 13.

The awards were announced at the closing ceremony on Sunday. The six-day festival screened 38 films, including 19 entries in the feature-film competition from countries including Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Iran, Spain, Germany, Costa Rica, Portugal, Brazil, Venezuela and Uzbekistan.

Producer Abu Shahed Emon thanked the festival organisers and said the film had received a warm response from critics, filmmakers and audiences. He described the award as an encouraging recognition for the cast and crew as well as for Bangladeshi cinema internationally.

Jaya Aar Sharmin is an 86-minute psychological drama set during the Covid-19 lockdown. It follows the changing relationship between actress Jaya and her domestic worker Sharmin as the two women remain confined under the same roof, exploring loneliness, emotional dependence and the power and class divide between them.

Jaya Ahsan plays Jaya, while theatre actor Mohsina Akter portrays Sharmin. The film was jointly produced by Abu Shahed Emon of Story Raj Films, Jaya Ahsan of C-Te Cinema and Piplu R Khan of Applebox Films.

In the documentary category, Mamun: In Praise of Shadows received the Jury Mention, while India’s Dolls Don’t Die: Putulnama, directed by Ranjit Ray, won the Harisadhan Dasgupta Golden Award for Best Documentary.