Aneek Chaudhuri
’s latest film ‘Jharokh’ (Ventilator) is now an official selection at the 20th
Dhaka International Film Festival
. The feature-length film was previously premiered in
Melbourne
. '
Jharokh
' will be competing in the ‘Spiritual Films’ category in Dhaka.
The silent film speaks on the difference between ‘need’ to seek
escapism
and ‘desire’ to seek escapism. It goes back to the 8 years of the Aila outbreak and the condition of people in Sundarbans; it describes the nature of survivors and how they are still dealing with it. The same is contrasted with a desolated house which details the story of three different individuals who seek escapism from their inner surroundings. They perceive that the outer world is greener.
Speaking about the latest festival laurel and the film's concept Aneek says, “This is indeed my first appearance in Bangladesh; none of my films have earlier got selected in the country. So, yes! It is a moment of celebration for the whole team. We are also looking forward to participating in a handful of European film festivals and Indian ones too. However, I am aware of the fact that this film is not something that would relax you from your mundane struggles; instead, this will highlight those struggles more. Therefore, we would need to opt for the festivals very carefully.”
The film stars
Usha Banerjee
who has recently acted in Aneek’s short The Last Apple,
Husne Shabnam
(who has acted in a handful of independent feature films and in Rabindranath Ekhane Kokhono Khete Aseni),
Ipsita Kundu
and
Sabuj Bardhan
, who had also worked with the director earlier in films like ‘And, he blinks’ and ‘
Katti Nrittam
’ respectively. Sabuj has a theatre background and has featured in quite a few web series recently that have gained prominence.
The ‘spiritual films’ section is being introduced to promote public discourse on the place of faith and spirituality in the human context. The idea is for viewers to distinguish between elements of identity in spirituality as opposed to the abuse of faith in fundamentalism. The showcasing of films on spirituality would promote greater cross-cultural understanding and tolerance and facilitate dialogues within communities as between communities.
The 20th Dhaka International Film Festival (DIFF) will be held in Dhaka from 15 to 23 January 2022. The general theme of the festival is Better Film, Better Audience and Better Society.
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