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Matir Moina: First Bangladeshi film for commercial shows in UK

21 June 2003, 18:00 PM
LIFESTYLE
By Tawfique Ali
21 June 2003, 18:00 PM
Matir Moina (The Clay Bird), one of the critically acclaimed Bangladeshi films in the international arena, which won the FIPRESCI International Critics' Prize as the best film of the "Directors' Fortnight" at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2002, is going to be commercially released for the common audience in the UK on July 4, said its director Tareque Masud recently at a press conference organised by the German Embassy in the city.

A special inaugural ceremony is scheduled on July 6 at Genesis, which Mayor of London is expected to attend among other distinguished guests.

"Today it's a matter of great joy for the entire unit of this film that it has also qualified for Munich Film Festival to be held from June 28 to July 5," Treque said.

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Hermann Nicolai (Deputy Head of Mission) of the German Embassy said that the film had some "artistic" and "intellectual" elements with a fascinating portrayal of beauteous landscape of Bangladesh, which would create a positive impression of Bangladeshi film-making amongst the German audience.

The film won best screenplay award at the Marrakech International Film Festival in Morocco in September 2002

Other international film festivals, in which Matir Moina was screened, include Edinburgh Festival, Cairo Festival, Australia's Adelaide Festival, Spain's Sitges Festival, and Fribourg Festival in Switzerland among others.

Set against the backdrop of the late 60s, a turbulent time in Bangladesh's history, Matir Moina questions the nature of dedication to Islam and tells a tale of how a school going boy copes up with his father's religious zealotry. It has a critical focus on cultural synthesis traditionally practised in Bangladesh.