Bangladeshi film to premiere at UK’s RAI Film Festival

Bangladeshi filmmaker Nibras Bin Sayed's debut film "On Margate Sands" is set to have its world premiere at the 19th Royal Anthropological Institute (RAI) Film Festival—one of the leading global platforms for ethnographic and anthropological cinema.

Produced in the UK as part of Sayed's MA in Film with Practice at the University of Kent, the film will be screened on June 14 at the Watershed Cinema in Bristol.

"On Margate Sands" will compete in the Wiley Blackwell Student Film Prize category and will be featured under the festival section titled "Landscape Symphonies", exploring themes of landscape and memory.

The RAI Film Festival, marking its 40th anniversary this year, will host in-person events from June 11–15 and online programmes from June 16–July 16. An academic conference will also be held virtually from July 1–4.

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Expressing his excitement, Sayed said, "I am absolutely over the moon to share that 'On Margate Sands' will have its world premiere at the RAI Film Festival. I'm quite out of words for being recognised in one of the leading film festivals dedicated to ethnographic and anthropological cinema."

Sayed is believed to be only the second Bangladeshi filmmaker to have a film selected at the RAI Festival, marking a notable milestone for South Asian representation in global ethnographic cinema.

"For those residing in Bristol, please attend the festival in person if possible," the filmmaker added.