Making waves with documentary films

A depiction of the lifestyle of gypsies

However, the young ones have to make do with primary education under the aegis of an NGO called Gram Bangla Unnayan Committee, which provides them learning facilities aboard a floating boat. The school is in a place called Aminbazar, just out of Dhaka.

One young boy, who fearlessly wraps snakes around his neck and puts up a snake show, says his dream is to be a welder.

Homing in on the lives of the peripatetic gypsies is documentary and short filmmaker Shahidu-zzaman Badal, who is also the director of Dhaka Photographic Institute. The Institute is a training centre for photography, video-photography and documentary films. Badal is the director and cinematographer for Tale of Gypsy Children. Recently, the modest and unassuming Badal was in the news when this documentary film won the Meena Children's Media Award for documentaries in 2006 (instituted by UNICEF). This is the second such distinction for Badal, who won the same award last year for a film titled The Paper Picker. The film is an account of a day in the life of a street child, picking rags and premiered in Hyderabad, India at the Second Asian Children's Film Festival in 2004. His latest oeuvre, Tale of Gypsy Children is set to go to the Third Asian Children's Festival, Hyderabad this November.

Where does Tale of Gypsy Children break new ground? Says Badal, "Documentary films have been made on adult gypsies but not specifically on their children. My film departs from the beaten path in that it deals with young gypsies, their issues, whether they are enrolled in schools, their dreams for the future."

Another message of this film is the unfortunate marginalisation of the community. Teacher Muklesur Rahman points out how while the Adivasis and other minority communities receive special grants and support from the government, the gypsies have always been overlooked. His plea: "We too should get help for our development."

Another socially relevant documentary is Minute Camera, which participated in the Teheran Film Festival in 2005. This documentary depicts the life of Noor Islam Dewan, a 'minute photographer' who works on the footpaths and takes photographs of people for a minimal fee.

Among his 15 documentary and short films are three other works which have been aired on TV: one titled Folk Festival of Sonargaon, on Channel-i. Then there is Tulir achor (strokes of the brush) for ntv, based on artists Kanak Chanpa Chakma, Jamal Ahmed and Khalid Mahmud Mithu. The third work is Minute Camera on Channel 1.

Other noteworthy documentaries are called Rabindranath-er Kuthibari and Cinemar Poster, which zooms into the process of making film posters.

Meanwhile, he is engaged in several other projects and is gung ho about the future. To quote him, "I believe the scenario for documentary and short films has changed a lot for the better over the years with the expansion of satellite TV channels. There is a certain demand for such works."