Young Bangladeshi filmmaker Abdullah Mohammad Saad’s debut film “Live From Dhaka” has brought two major awards at the regionally prestigious Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF). Saad himself won Best Director while the films protagonist Mostafa Monwar won Best Performance (as an actor). 

“Live From Dhaka” depicts the chronicles of a partially-disabled man, who lost his all at the share market collapse, trying to leave the country. The film, in black and white, is a personal, intense tale of crushed dreams and the suffocation he feels in Dhaka, one of the most crowded cities in the world. 

Watch the trailer of the film here: 

Nepalese drama “White Sun” was named the top Asian feature film at the Silver Screen Awards, which concluded the 27th edition of SGIFF at the through a red carpet gala on Saturday at the Mastercard Theater on the Marina Bay Sands.

The 31-year old director collected both the prizes, one on behalf of Monwar. 

On the red carpet were Chinese actress and international film festival darling Huang Lu, veteran Indian actress Seema Biswas (“Bandit

Queen”) and Taiwanese singer-actress Yu Tai-Yan.

Indonesian short film “Prenjak” (“In The Year of Monkey”) was named the winner in the South East Asian short film category. 

The festival, running from November 24 – December 4 and the award ceremony are part of the Singapore Media Festival (SMF), hosted by the Info-communications Media Development Authority of Singapore (IMDA).