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Head lines
Lecture Aziz Amirul and Harun ur Rashid, The Daily Star Matir Moina, a Bangladeshi feature film that was recently screened at the Cannes' festival becomes topic of a lecture at Alliance Francaise in the city Dhaka Film Society, a wing of Center for Asian Arts and Cultures, hosted the first of a series of lectures on 'Matir Moina' (The Clay Bird) at the gallery of Alliance Francaise de Dacca on July 19. 'Matir Moina' was screened at the 55th Cannes' Film Festival in France last May. Tareque Masud, director of the film was present at the lecture as key speaker and he spoke in detail on the overall success story of 'Matir Moina'. Along with success, the director also mentioned of various limitation and restraints that had to be faced by the production unit. The film 'Matir Moina' had picked up one of the top the awards at a special event called the Directors' Fortnight and International Critics' Week that had run alongside the main festival in the city of Cannes at Southern France, and was a non-competitive showcase. The other two films which had won the categorical award that was given by FIPRESCI (an international judges' panel of 11 cine-journalists including from Britain, Canada, Russia, Sweden, Australia, Egypt), were 'Divine Intervention', directed by Elia Sulaiman of Palestine and 'Heremakono' by Abdur Rahman Sissako of Mauritania. Interestingly, 'Matir Moina' represented the country for the very time at the world-renowned festival. A total of 40 films took part in the class. Director of the film, Tareque Masud, who was accompanied by his American wife who was the film's producer, received the award at an official ceremony of the festival that was held on the evening of May 25 in the central complex of the festival venue. Being the first ever Bangladeshi filmmaker at Cannes, Masud apparently felt proud of his film as it was selected for the opening show of the Directors' Fortnight. When the film was named for the Critics' Award, he took even more pride at being a Bangladeshi. He mentioned that quite a few countries had participated in the festival although none of these countries' films had been selected for screening at the festival. From the very beginning of the festival, Masud had the feeling more of a 'loner'as he puts it - amidst the greatness and the brightness of the occasion as well as many 'big figures. He was, however, afraid of the possibility of his film's being treated with the current antagonistic notion about Islam; for, his film had the religion as its subject. But to his great satisfaction as well as achievement, he discovered that the spectators were able to relate to the message he had conveyed in the film. Masud told of an incident when a young French man recognised him as the director of Matir Moina and passionately told, ' I loved your film... beautiful people... beautiful country....' Masud considers this 'love' for himself as well as for Bangladesh and its people from a foreigner to be the greatest achievement at Cannes. He suggests that now that Bangladeshi film has reached out to the West, we should participate in the festival regularly which will help the younger film-makers improve their talent and uphold an even better image of Bangladesh. The plot of 'Matir Moina' had been based on real-life incidents and situations of Tareque Masud's childhood days, much of which he had to spend in a 'madrassah'. As the synopsis of the plot got unfolded, Anu, a young boy of rural background was brought before the audience in a pre-liberation setting of the 60's. Kazi, the boy's father had possessed strict philosophy of conservative attitude and had showed great annoyance over his son's likings, especially in social congregations and religious festivities of non-Muslim communities. Anu's mother tried to support her son and at this stage, an enraged Kazi got Anu admitted in a 'madrassah', far away from their home. The boy remained confined among the walls of the religious academic institution and had to spend days and nights in total boredom though he found friendship in a young boy named Rokon, a resident of the 'madrassah' hostel. One day, while Anu had was away at the hostel, his younger sister fell seriously ill. Kazi who practiced homoeopathy, tried in vain, to cure the sickness of his daughter and the child died only because of some improper treatment. Anu, once, had brought a clay bird (Matir Moina) for her sister when the two stayed together at home. The sister promised to hide her brother's gift in some place where no one would ever find it. In fact, she had kept it as a rich treasure in a soft corner of her heart, and never returned it, as a worldly object, to her brother. Tareque, who had been carrying the pain of losing her sister, all through his childhood and teens, at last, was able to relieve his memories of agony and love through the making and screening of the 35mm celluloid. The film could be attributed as an autobiographical depiction of a person's life, that of Tareque, who spent eight years behind the confined walls of a village 'madrassah'. Within this period, the boy's life received abrupt transformation and he never experienced the true love of his family members, friends or neighbours. In short, his life was devoid of usual colour and merriment. Hence, Tareque had developed himself as an outsider of the usual society. He could never accept the religious bindings he had been told to practice, and he failed to understand why the festivals he attended were not orthodox. Tareque, with the aid of his wife, who naturally happened to be an 'outsider', somebody from France, created 'Matir Moina' as a fellow Muslim, not as a pious practitioner. It took three years to complete the production of the film. Born in 1957, Tareque Masud during the later part of his illustrious life received a degree in history at the University of Dhaka in 1981. From 1977 to 1982, he was involved in making socially-committed films and experimental shorts. Tareque was a co-founder of alternative filmmakers' forum in the city, thus he became the central figure of a new type of sophisticated cine movement in Bangladesh. In 1988, he coordinated the International Short Film Festival before moving to New York where he and his wife directed a documentary on the Liberation of Bangladesh. In 1995, he returned home where he now continues his filmmaking career. A premiere of 'Matir Moina' was screened at a public auditorium in the city during end-April after which a sudden declaration from the concerned ministry of Bangladesh government resulted a complete ban on the screening of Matir Moina' inside the territory of the country. According to government statement, subject matters in the film's synopsis have been capable enough to hurt sentiments of practicing Muslims, a majority of the population. However, recently the ban had to go. The victory of 'Matir Moina' in the Cannes' Festivals, a film that was initially banned in its homeland for supposedly outrageous dialogues and scenes, brought elation, not only among fellow docu-filmmakers in Bangladesh, but also among international critics, journalists and reputed world media personalities. In the film, Tareque was successful enough to present before the viewers several symbolic issues that represented the turbulent mid and late 60s, the period of the setting. Division within the family of Anu against the backdrop of certain disturbances and tensions on the streets created a parallel setting. Kazi, a strict and highly orthodox practicing Muslim, could be termed as a symbolic character who worked against the cause of freedom and liberty something which Anu, hence the Bengalis, desperately sought after. Anu, his mother and others of the family represented honesty and sincerity of a greater Bengali community whose yearning of freedom could be found within the struggling soul of the clay bird that ultimately had become a cause in life of Tareque Masud, one who proved to be a protagonist, who spoke solely for humanity, not for religion or communal segregation. Notable documentary productions of Tareque include 'Adam Surat' (The Inner Strength) -1989, Muktir Gaan (Song of Freedom) 1995, Muktir Kotha (Words of Freedom) 1998, A Kind of Childhood 2001.
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