“Mati'r Projar Deshe” to premiere at DIFF

“Mati'r Projar Deshe” (A Kingdom of Clay Subjects”), a film by Bijon Imtiaz, is set to premiere in Dhaka at the upcoming 15th Dhaka International Film Festival (DIFF). Last year, the film made an appearance at the Seattle International Film Festival and Chicago South Asian Film Festival, taking home the Best Film award.

The premiere will be held at 7pm on January 13 at the National Museum's main auditorium.

Produced by Goopy Bagha Productions, “Mati'r Projar Deshe” is set in rural Bangladesh, and shows the struggles of women through the perspective of a 10-year old boy, Jamal, and his struggle for identity. The film casts Jayanta Chattopadhyay, Rokeya Prachy, MA Shakil, Chinmoyee Gupta, Anindo, Sheuli, Abdullah Rana, Ramiz Raju, Kochi Khondokar and others.

The initial impressions from the film's trailer promises a hard-hitting narrative in a candid, and yet sensitive storytelling approach. Bijon, who has also written the film, captures the essence of rural life and its various aspects, especially the treatment of women with perfection, and the cast seems to hold the story up strongly. The cinematography also looks interesting, as does the score. Bijon's academic schooling in filmmaking (Masters in filmmaking from University of California, Los Angeles) is quite evident in the trailer, as is apparent the care taken in making the film that took about four years to complete.

The film's producer Arifur Rahman, Bijon and film's crew will attend the premiere. This year's DIFF, organised by Rainbow Film Society, will run from January 12-20 and screen films from 66 countries.