Tauquir bags best director at DCSAFF

Actor-director Tauquir Ahmed is making waves again in the international film festival scene with his directorial venture “Oggyatonama”. The latest feather in his cap was added at the South Asian Film Festival held at Washington DC (9-11 September), where he bagged the Best Director Award. Previously, the director had also won awards for best director at Kosovo's film festival “The Goddess on the Throne” and the Gulf of Naples Film Festival. The film has also been selected for screening at Seattle's South Asian Film Festival and Italy's Trento Religion Today Film Festival in October.

Written and scripted by Tauquir, the film stars Mosharrof Karim, Shahiduzzaman Selim, Fazlur Rahman Babu, Nipun and Shatabdi Wadud, among others. The narrative explores the realities of working class Bangladeshi migrants and their families.

The DCSAFF event closed with a ghazal tribute to Jagjit Singh. Other artistes who were honoured at the awards ceremony were Naseeruddin Shah as Best Actor for the film “Waiting”, and Deepa Mehta who was conferred the Special Award for her outstanding achievements in international cinema.

“Oggyatonama” was originally written as a theatre play, for which Tauquir also wrote two songs.