Presenting our fishermen with a fresh angle

Shown recently before a few diplomats and other dignitaries at a private screening was the almost 20 minute documentary of Jamil Shafi's "Fishermen of Bangladesh", with himself and AKM Ashrafi as the cameraman and Jhantu Chakma as the editor. There was the background of music of various artists on the flute, "tabla", sitar", flute etc, as well as folk songs rendered with modern instruments. Made at the "Arjo Cholo Chitra" it was an interesting film on how the fishermen form the source of so much of our national income, and who struggle so valiantly against all odds of the seasons, the rough seas and the ocean. There is nothing blasé about the film which is in colour and which moves swiftly with one scene to another delineating different aspects of the life and living of the fishermen, which is to catch fish from Tetulia to Teknaf. The commentary is written by Shafi too.

Shafi, 33, got involved with film making by beginning with photography which he learnt from the Elementary School of Photography with Mujib Rahman at Alliance Francaise in 1985 and then had more training in that at Bangkok. He began as a freelancer working for TV Asia. He had done travel items for them including areas in Bangladesh and India. He brought in scenic beauty in places like Cox's Bazaar's seashore and its scenic beauty, although he was unable to take any pictures of the Buddhist temples there; Paharpur (dealing mostly with statues); Moinamoti Museum; Kotbari (old Buddhist statues found inside Moinamati). In India he covered Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Gum and other neighbouring areas concentrating on the waterfalls, both natural and artificial. He took pictures of Manali (Himachal Pradesh), below Sri Nagar, Delhi, concentrating on the city and the outer areas of Fatehpur Sikri, Agra, focusing on the Taj Mahal, Red Fort, Jame-Masjid and such historical architectural sites. He covered Pondicherry and Chennai; he worked for TV Asia for three years in all.

Having learnt the facts of operating a camera from Mujib Rahman, being his first student, he went on experimenting on his own. At first he had used Yashika and Riko in the mid 80s but now he is using Nikon. The people who inspired him were Anwar Hossain, who now lives in Paris, and Papiya Seth from UK and she too advised him to carry on with his camera work. Jaibul Anam Abdullah also encouraged him.

Talking about the documentaries he has made, and has in mind to make in the near future, Shafi said,"The one you saw and have completed so far is about the Bangladeshi Fishermen ("Jeley Jibon' as called in the Bangla version) and the ones which I'm in the process of compilation is 'Cry', 'Pain' and 'Walking with the Season', the first dealing with arsenic contamination in Bangladesh. In the documentary on the Bangladeshi fishermen the overall presentation was to depict how the local fishermen take out their boats, that are not all that strong, struggling against the waves, overwhelming bad weather such as the rain, facing unknown destiny as they brave though the odds.

"They have no idea as to how much their struggle will prove worthwhile, yet to feed their family they fight against all odds. Their fate is totally insecure, they do not know what fish they will come back with and how that will sell, where they will sell, yet they carry on with their work non stop and this surely deserves the attention of not only viewers in our country but all over the globe. The viewers should see the positive side of Bangladesh -- a nation of daring and constantly striving people. Rain or shine, cool weather or winter, they are constantly with their boats and nets to make a meagre living. Even a tornado does not stop them."

The reason why Shafi was not able to bring in the life of the fishermen's wives as well, was because of social and religious restrictions. Yet he did show how the children play with conch shells and other river creatures like shrimps and so get used to the sea and river life, when their fathers and uncles go for fish "drives". These little ones use small nets and do a fine job of being apprentice fishermen before they are old enough to set out on their own. Thus they overcome the fear of storms and river or sea water.

Asked if he had accompanied the fishermen on a separate boat or whether he was in the same boat as the subjects of the film, Shafi said that it was boat. "When I did the 'scouting' for eleven days, i.e. studying and planning what I will put in my film," he said," I had to stay in the same boat as my subjects, studying when they throw their nets and when they draw them out; how they are living in the boats, eating, chatting, discussing, planning ahead, and passing their time, when there was not much action for them to concentrate on. It was their expression on their faces and their body and limb gestures that I wanted to study in detail. They are always under tremendous pressure as their struggle and strife are on a formidable measure but yet they go on with their dangerous task to gain something from the rivers and seas. The fishermen never go alone. If they go to the deep sea, they take at least four big boats, but if it is in the rivers they take, they go with nothing less than 30 boats in a single trip. From the shore to the distance they go in different numbers depending on the areas. When there is a minimum of four boats, this is due to limitation of skill, shortage of nets, and boats. Each group consists of at least 14 fishermen. As they go, they throw their nets, and when they return, they collect these same nets.

"Thus they go and come in following the same route. In the deep sea, they tend to get scattered with four large boats carrying over 50 fishermen. Even if they should be in larger numbers in the deep sea, they do not abandon their hopes or courage or get confused about their goal. There is no deep sea diving here but the little fisher people do collect oysters at times that may perhaps contain pearls."

Dwelling on the different areas that he had covered, Shafi said that he had covered rivers, the sea, Sunderbans area such as the Mongla area, and places like Comilla, Chandina, the banks of the Meghna, Gomoti, Padma (including Aricha and Rajshahi sections), Bahadurabad, Cox's Bazaar, Moheshkhali, Teknaf etc.

Touching on the problems that he faced while making the film, Shafi said, that the jerking during the shooting while sitting in boat was disturbing. Directing the boatman was another difficult factor, he said. "Sometimes, when he did not understand my instructions and changed the movement of his boat, I missed the angles that I wanted. Ashrafi, my assistant camera man too had to be guided correctly. We had our packed lunch and had no problems with food: getting the shots that I wanted satiated me and I had little thought for food."

Discussing the film makers who have influenced him, Shafi said," I have studied Satyajit Ray, Renoir of the 'nouvelle vague' and Stephen Spielberg. I go to the cultural centres such as the Russian, Indian and specially the French as the atmosphere there is so congenial, even though every film that they show may not have a great message or technique. I believe that studying these great film makers is not an easy task and is time consuming too. Again, the good films do not come often to Bangladesh unless it is during the film festivals such as the Short Film Festivals and the Cannes Film one shown not so long ago arranged by Kobori, Abdullah and others. You might find it interesting to know that it is the Renaissance genius, Leonardo Da Vinci, who was also fascinated by the water, who inspired me to capture the expression on faces. It is Da Vinci, who is my guru."

Touching on the subject of his film on arsenic contamination, which he is already in the process of making, Shafi said, "I think it is a great threat to our people. I have made some footage on this devastating contamination and will compile it soon, hopefully. I have showed areas where out of 540 ' thanas' 490 are affected. Out of these 240 are serious cases of this affliction. I have shown how the water from the tubewell plays a vital part in the lives of the people all over Bangladesh, specially in the rural areas. In the village of Samta, for instance, they are using the tubewell where there have been deaths in 90 per cent of the homes -- whether you take Sahrsha, or the northern areas like Khulna. I took shots in Comilla, Noakhali, Jessore, Kushtia, Meherpur, Tangail, Faridpur, Khulna etc. focussing on the affected people and their families."

Asked about the funding, Shafi said that he had so far used his own savings as a small businessman: he deals with import of Spanish saffron and toys. Talking about the seasons that he had chosen for work, Shafi said they he had shot in summer and autumn. What he aimed at in his film on the Bangladeshi fishermen was expression and action, he added.

Shafi's hobbies include skiing, cooking, and listening to music. He has a small family of a wife called Kuasha and a little daughter named Shazin. He has come a long way from the amateur photographer of his youth, as the visuals, music, commentary and theme were all promising. He has a part of his extended family in USA but prefers to stay in Bangladesh and so do something productive for his country.