Filmmaker Proshoon Rahman thinks that as a socially and politically conscious filmmaker, he enjoys making films on real-life issues, including migration, internal displacement and identity crisis, dreams and delusions.
鈥業n almost all of my films, I have tried to portray an anthropological interpretation of the time in which I am living. I would like to say that as a filmmaker, I enjoy making films on real-life issues,鈥� Proshoon Rahman told 抖阴精品.
Proshoon鈥檚 directorial venture 鈥楧haka Dream鈥�, a story of displacement, decentralisation, or dreams and illusions, is close to contemporary reality, which portrays the story of the people of the country except Dhaka.
Speaking about the film, he shared, 鈥樷�淒haka Dream鈥� portrays the story of the dreams and broken dreams of marginalised people of the country, who are forced to come to Dhaka due to internal displacement, need for livelihood and hope of a better life.鈥�
Pointing out that people in society have stories and dreams and their dreams are almost the same but distinct, he said, 鈥楾he characters I have depicted in the film are all from familiar surroundings.鈥�
He also mentioned that instead of a protagonist鈥檚 journey, he had depicted 12 stories of 12 people, who, if not directly, were collectively connected to each other, with equal importance in the film.
The filmmaker wrote the story and screenplay of his debut film titled 鈥楽utpar Thikana鈥�, based on the existential crisis of a woman. The film was screened at 22 major film festivals across 5 continents.
Every man has a responsibility towards people, including his native land, he said, adding, 鈥業 dedicate this film to all the women of the subcontinent, including my close relatives.鈥�
British-American poet WH Auden portrayed the pain of a family becoming refugees during World War II in a poem titled Refugee Blues; from which a line, 鈥淚f you鈥檝e got no passport you鈥檙e officially dead鈥�, served as the catalyst of Proshoon鈥檚 film on Rohingya refugee crisis titled Jonmo Bhumee.
The film was screened at the headquarters of the United Nations in New York City in 2019.
Mentioning the countries that have refugee issues, including Syria, Palestine, Afghanistan, Sudan and Ukraine, he said, 鈥楾hey all have identities and passports of their own countries, but the Rohingyas are the only forcibly displaced asylum seekers who have no official identity. Their citizenship right has been revoked in Myanmar.鈥�
He also thinks that depriving people of their citizenship means forcibly removing them from a country through genocide, continuing, 鈥業t is a highly geopolitical issue. If I did not find sufficiently acceptable storylines, the production of the film might not be possible.鈥�
Shortly after this, the Sophia robot, created by Hanson Robotics, arrived in Bangladesh. Just then, different countries gave the robot honorary citizenship. It was then that I found my story, the filmmaker mentioned.
He also stressed that while Sophia was being given honorary citizenship, millions of Rohingyas were being deported from their homelands.
鈥楢mong them, 65 thousand were pregnant women,鈥� he mentioned, adding, 鈥榃e set out to portray the story of a woman named Sofia, who wants to return to her homeland. She wants to give birth to her child on the soil of her native land.鈥�
Those oppressed people have not been able to go back to their native land till date. No one knows when they will be able to go back, stressed the filmmaker, adding that the real context of that story had become sadder.
Recently, Proshoon Rahmaan has bagged the Best Director Award for his directorial venture 鈥楶riya Satyajit鈥� at the 5th Nepal International Cultural Film Festival in the International Feature Film Category.
Revolving around three filmmakers of three generations 鈥� the first is Satyajit Ray and the two others are senior filmmaker Asif Mahmud and young filmmaker Aparajita Haque鈥攖he film has also bagged the Best Feature Film Award in Italy鈥檚 Florence Film Festival and Best Actor Award at the 15th Jaipur International Film Festival in India.
鈥業 made the film to pay tribute to the legendary filmmaker marking his birth centenary. The film was shot in Satyajit Ray鈥檚 ancestral home in the village of Moshua and adjacent villages in Kishoreganj, Old Dhaka and others,鈥� he mentioned.
His forthcoming film titled 鈥楽hekar鈥�, produced by Imation Creator, is a story of looking back at Bangladesh and its roots as seen through the eyes of an immigrant who has moved from Bangladesh to a developed country in the process of external migration.
鈥樷�淪hekar鈥� will also shed light on how a person tries to restore a broken relationship. We will try to present contemporary issues, keeping in mind the new generation audience in the film,鈥� concluded Proshoon Rahman.