An evening with a creative couple

Catherine and Tareq wreathed in smiles

Tareq Masud: I was a struggling and starving 'short film maker' and Catherine was a curious, politically progressive American, interested in other cultures and people. I was then working on a documentary film on the painter S.M. Sultan, and Catherine, who had a background in painting, on her own was interested in Sultan. Our common interests drew us together. She had already been in Bangladesh for over a year and had picked up Bangla by that time.

TDS: What inspired you to make a documentary as your first project?

TM: For me documentary film making is a self educating process. Every time I finish a documentary, I realize that I could just begin the project afresh and could make a better film. When I started the Sultan documentary I didn't have the technical know-how of cinema, nor was I equipped with experience or maturity, but I thought if the film is not a success at least the documentation of the life of this unique painter and his work would have been achieved. The completion of the film wasn't the main objective, it was the process that was important to me.

TDS: What is a typical week/ weekend for both of you?

CM: For us, there's no difference between a week and a weekend. Every day starts with an e-mail check and then a morning session of e-mail writing, phone calls and household coordination. Then one or both of us will go to the office, which is just across the road from our house. After lunch we usually have meetings to attend, either in our office or outside. This run around continues until evening, when finally we're back at the house to unwind. Often computer related work, such as writing or editing, keeps us awake until late. Luckily we don't have children to attend to!

TDS: What are your future plans?

CM: We don't really plan, we just keep several parallel projects in the works, and whichever ripens first we go ahead with it. Our dream is to make a film set against the backdrop of British India. It will take much preparation and research, and a substantial budget. In the meantime, we are working on some smaller but very interesting projects.

TDS: As a media personality how do you attract the young talents to enter the media world professionally?

TM: Through our work we have tried our best to motivate and inspire young people to develop their skills by training them during our productions. We feel it is very important to build up the new generation of aspiring technicians and filmmakers so that all of us in the media world can benefit from their newfound expertise. Both of us have occasionally taught classes on various aspects of filmmaking, but we feel the lack of any centralized learning centre, such as a film institute, that can channelize and develop the talents of young people interested in entering the media/film world.

TDS: What are the things you dislike about your husband?

CM: Possibly annoyance is a better term than dislike. As all couples do, we occasionally grate on one another's nerves, particularly since we are partners in both our personal and professional lives and are around each other constantly. I used to feel annoyed that Tareque was such a workaholic, but then I became one myself and now I'm worse than he is!

TDS: What qualities do you admire the most about Catherine?

TM: Probably the thing I like most about Catherine is her extraordinary ability to pick up and learn new things. Whether it's filmmaking, computers, or a new language, she focuses on the task at hand to such a degree that she's an expert in no time. I remember when I was working on the editing of Adam Surat (The Inner Strength), my documentary on S.M. Sultan, she used to sit behind the veteran editor at DFP out of curiosity about the whole filmmaking process, which she was getting exposed to for the first time. One day the editor was struggling to synchronize the sound with the picture in a complicated musical sequence, and she leaned forward and said, 'I think it's 3 frames behind'. The editor was astonished because she was exactly right. A few days later he couldn't come because he was sick, and Catherine confidently took over the machine controls even though she'd never touched an editing machine in her life. She has a very scientific mind; she can just look at something and understand how it works.

TDS: Tell us in short about the international response to your films

CM: Our film Matir Moina was very well received by audiences around the globe--and a good part of the credit goes not simply to the film, but to the culture, people and landscape of Bangladesh that shine through on the screen. In addition to the film's initial theatrical release in France, the film was released in the UK on July 4th and is still running at theatres around the country. It is also due to be released in the USA in spring, the first time any Bangladeshi film has been released there in the commercial mainstream. In addition, it has been released in French Canada, Italy and many other places. Closer to home, this coming December 14th, the film will have its Pakistan premiere at the Karafilm Festival held in Karachi. Following that, it will be shown in the competition of the International Film Festival of Kerala held in Trivandrum, India. Earlier this month, the film opened the Agartala Film Festival in Tripura. It has also been invited as the inaugural film for a festival in Kolkata in January. In fact, since its premiere at Cannes in 2002, the film has been shown at many major festivals around the globe, including Montreal, Edinburgh, Palm Springs, Marrakech (Morocco), Cairo, Fribourg (Switzerland), Munich, Adeleide (Australia), Museum of Modern Art (New York), and Cinemaya-New Delhi festivals among others.

TDS: Would you like to share a memorable incident which took place while shooting any of your films?

CM: Some of the most memorable experiences we've had have been while filming in remote parts of the country. When we were shooting Muktir Kotha, we traveled to the town of Kornajhora in Sherpur district, just a few miles from the Indian border. We spent several days there with a troop of aging Freedom Fighters, who took us on a trek up into the hills to visit their old haunts. It was a beautiful clear day and we stood with them on a hilltop while they reminisced together and sang songs of '71. It was one of those moments that stay frozen in memory.