'Pizzassin' and 'Hortal'
Independent short films by Gaushey Shahriar
Pizzassin, scripted and directed by Gaushey, produced by the studio Parrot In Motion, is a short animated film about a lonely spy. It depicts a story where the paranoia induced by a spy's isolation haunts him every moment of his life. The short film is one of the first to use comic-book styled animation for the big screen in Bangladesh.
Pizzassin is one of the first official selections for the 12th International Short and Independent Film Festival, Dhaka, last year. The film had a special screening at the German Cultural Centre Dhaka and an official screening at North South University by NSU Cine and Drama Club.
Hortal is a political docudrama inspired from the political turbulences in Bangladesh. The story builds on the mass arrest of opposition leaders in May, 2012 and the strikes that followed. However, the story picks up with the deployment of satire and humor to the main context in depicting life on the day of a strike and the journey of 3 journalists for the lead news. The film progresses in real time telling the story of a single day and features real life interview of pedestrians on the day of a strike.
The film was supported by Daily Star and Standard Chartered Bank through the Celebrating Life program. It has earned acclaim from different sectors and has been awarded the best film at Inter University Short Film Festival by NSU Cine and Drama Club. It was also the winner of Best Film at the DUFS International Interuniversity Short Film Festival, Dhaka.
The film has been screened at the Goethe Institute, North South University and University of Dhaka amongst other places. Both films were official selections for the Imphal International Film Festival in India.
Gaushey Shahriar studies in IBA. Other than his film-making, he is a well reputed figure among debating circles for finishing first in an international championship from Bangladesh. His team won the OIC Intervarsity Debate Championship 2010, Malaysia. Gaushey is currently working on his feature film The Quest of Mostofa. It is the first animated western genre film that is set on the liberation war. The film is scheduled to be released in Janurary, 2016.
We are hopeful that there will be more to come from Gaushey and that his initiative will encourage other enthusiastic animators and film-makers to come forward with their own works.
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