Emon makes big strides with “Opodartho”

Young Bangladeshi filmmaker Abu Shahed Emon, who created quite a buzz in the film festival circuit of the region with his directorial debut “Jalal'er Golpo”, has scored a big support from the India's National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) for his upcoming project.

Emon's upcoming film “Opodartho” has been selected in this year's highly competitive NFDC Film Bazaar for co-production. The film (which was in pipeline even before “Jalal'er Golpo”) under its previous working title “Ekjon Police er Golpo”, had received funds at the Asian Cinema Fund of the 2011 Busan Film Festival for script development. That same year, it won best pitch at the Göteborg Film Festival, Sweden and best pitch next year at China's Beijing Film Festival 2012. The film also participated in the 'Labs' section of this year's Locarno Film Festival Open Doors programme.

Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, an ardent supporter of Emon, is producing the film. In a Facebook post, Farooki said he became a fan of the story the first time he heard it, adding that this is his first involvement as a producer in someone else's film.

The NFDC Film Bazaar, in recent years, has produced critically-acclaimed films like “The Lunchbox”, “Titli” and “Masaan” (all from India). This year, the film selected 18 films, of which there is a second film from Bangladesh. Titled “Nonajoler Kabbo”, it is directed by Rezwan Shahriar Sumit and produced by Gigi Dement and Laboratory NYC. Most of the other films are from India, although a film from Nepal, a Chinese-Dutch co-production and two jointly-produced Indian films – one with Sweden and another with Canada, are on the list.

Abu Shahed Emon's directorial debut “Jalal'er Golpo” was Bangladsh's official selection for the foreign language film in the Oscars in 2014, and won a host of awards – including the Avanca International Film Festival (Portugal), SAARC Film Festival in Sri Lanka, Kerala International Film Festival (India) and Jaipur International Film Festival (India), aside from screening in a number of other festivals.