DHAKA: It’s jubilation time for Bangladesh, as a silent characteristic movie made in Dhaka a couple of homosexual man gained the Particular Jury award on the just lately concluded Moscow Worldwide Movie Pageant (MIFF). In an trade the place movies on LGBTQI+ points are few in quantity, this worldwide acclaim is a watershed second not only for the nation’s impartial cinema but in addition for the group.
In 2012, Noman Robin’s ‘Widespread Gender’ explored the love story of a transgender, whereas highlighting public notion in direction of the trans group. 4 years later, on April 25, 2016, Xulhaz Mannan, the founding father of Bangladesh’s first LGBT journal, was hacked to demise. Only a day after his eight demise anniversary, director Asif Islam acquired the Particular Jury award for ‘Nirvana‘ on April 26, 2024 at MIFF. Islam’s movie traces the journey of a homosexual man together with two different co-workers at a manufacturing facility whereas they’re battling their very own demons.
Quickly after returning to Dhaka with the trophy, Islam instructed TOI: “It took us two years to make this movie. I’ve spoken to folks from the group – a lot of who’re nonetheless within the closet – about their struggles. However there has hardly been any illustration of that voice in our cinema, when the world and even India is making movies on such delicate points. Maybe there was a concern of hostility. Fortunately, nobody in our crew subscribed to that. The concern of censorship would not hassle me. The worldwide acclaim is an acknowledgement of the honesty in our imaginative and prescient. I’m glad if ‘Nirvana’ has been in a position to push the envelope.”
“Within the transphobic and homophobic society of Bangladesh, an award like this for a movie is an enormous assertion for the acceptance of our group. I discover a concern, amongst folks at massive, about homosexuality. Sadly, that concern is predicated on ignorance. That’s the reason administrators draw back from making movies on such topics. In that context, this movie turns into vital within the historical past of Bangladeshi cinema,” mentioned Tashnuva Anan Shishir, who’s Bangladesh’s first brazenly transgender information anchor.
In keeping with actor Azmeri Haque Badhon, “When a straight particular person like me consciously performed a lesbian character in Vishal Bhardwaj’s ‘Khufiya’, my well-wishers requested me to get visas accomplished in different international locations as a result of they feared I must face an enormous backlash in Bangladesh. However nothing like that occurred and I acquired reward. The worldwide acclaim of ‘Nirvana’ is one other step in the fitting path. The reception is an index of the altering actuality of Bangladesh society,” she added.
In 2012, Noman Robin’s ‘Widespread Gender’ explored the love story of a transgender, whereas highlighting public notion in direction of the trans group. 4 years later, on April 25, 2016, Xulhaz Mannan, the founding father of Bangladesh’s first LGBT journal, was hacked to demise. Only a day after his eight demise anniversary, director Asif Islam acquired the Particular Jury award for ‘Nirvana‘ on April 26, 2024 at MIFF. Islam’s movie traces the journey of a homosexual man together with two different co-workers at a manufacturing facility whereas they’re battling their very own demons.
Quickly after returning to Dhaka with the trophy, Islam instructed TOI: “It took us two years to make this movie. I’ve spoken to folks from the group – a lot of who’re nonetheless within the closet – about their struggles. However there has hardly been any illustration of that voice in our cinema, when the world and even India is making movies on such delicate points. Maybe there was a concern of hostility. Fortunately, nobody in our crew subscribed to that. The concern of censorship would not hassle me. The worldwide acclaim is an acknowledgement of the honesty in our imaginative and prescient. I’m glad if ‘Nirvana’ has been in a position to push the envelope.”
“Within the transphobic and homophobic society of Bangladesh, an award like this for a movie is an enormous assertion for the acceptance of our group. I discover a concern, amongst folks at massive, about homosexuality. Sadly, that concern is predicated on ignorance. That’s the reason administrators draw back from making movies on such topics. In that context, this movie turns into vital within the historical past of Bangladeshi cinema,” mentioned Tashnuva Anan Shishir, who’s Bangladesh’s first brazenly transgender information anchor.
In keeping with actor Azmeri Haque Badhon, “When a straight particular person like me consciously performed a lesbian character in Vishal Bhardwaj’s ‘Khufiya’, my well-wishers requested me to get visas accomplished in different international locations as a result of they feared I must face an enormous backlash in Bangladesh. However nothing like that occurred and I acquired reward. The worldwide acclaim of ‘Nirvana’ is one other step in the fitting path. The reception is an index of the altering actuality of Bangladesh society,” she added.
