Portugal South Asian Film Fest pays tribute to Tareque Masud

The first edition of the Mostra De Cinema Sul Asiatica, or Annual South Asia Film Festival in Portugal, was held in Portuguese capital Lisbon, from June 30-July 2. The festival was dedicated to the cinema of Bangladesh and eminent Bangladeshi filmmaker Tareque Masud.

Villa Du Cinema, an independent international production company based in Portugal, organised the festival in order to promote South Asian films and to give the South Asian diaspora in Portugal a chance to watch films from home.

A total of Six Bangladeshi feature-length films and one Indo-Pak production were screened at the festival, as was one Spanish-Bangladeshi film, two Nepalese films, one Bhutanese film, and five Bangladeshi short films were screened at the three-day festival, held at the Cinema São Jorge complex.

The festival was supported and sponsored by Lusófona University, the Bangladeshi Embassy in Lisbon, CRIA Research Institute, and many more.

Production Director of the festival, Anna Paula Marvau said, “This festival gives a big opportunity to not only South Asian expatriates but also Europeans to view and experience good South Asian cinema. In this first edition, we have highlighted Bangladeshi cinema, and in the upcoming editions, we will highlight cinemas from other countries too. Villa Du Cinema is working relentlessly to build a bridge between European and Asian cinema. Along with that, we are also trying to work on co-productions and post-production with these countries, as well as fix shooting locations for them in Europe.”

At the festival, the Bangladeshi feature films presented were “Chaka” by Morshedul Islam, Abu Shahed Emon's “Jalal er Golpo,” “Aynabaji” by Amitabh Reza, Tauqir Ahmed's “Oggatonama”, “Krishnopokkho” by Meher Afroze Shawon, and Tareq Masud's “Runway”. The Bangladeshi short films at the festival were “Man With No Name” by Nuruzzaman Khan, Rajib Ahsan's “Puppet”, “See You Again” by Rahman Monir, Abid Mallick's “Poth” and Parvez Rajon's “Tareque Masud”.