Shabnam Ferdousi’s ‘Born Together’ to be screened at Mumbai International Film Festival

Bangladesh filmmaker Shabnam Ferdousi’s documentary ‘Born Together’ (Jonmosathi) will be screened at the 15th Mumbai International Film Festival.

The oldest and largest film festival for non-feature films in South Asia began in 1990.

The seven-day festival, organised by India’s ministry of Information and broadcasting, is set to kick-off on Jan 28.

Ferdousi told bdnews24.com that her film, which attempted to document lives of Bangladesh War children, will be screened on Feb 2.

“As far as I know, this is the third documentary from Bangladesh to be screened at this prestigious festival.”

The documentary film has been already screened in four festivals and won awards in two of them.

“Actually I hadn’t send it to any festival. I gave it to those who only wanted to show it. My priority was screening it in Bangladesh, because a lot of people does not know about this side of the history.

“Besides, it costs to send films to festivals and I cannot afford that,” said Ferdousi.

Premiered in Dhaka in 2016, the 90-minute documentary is about two war children. It also tells the story of a Birangana, a 1971 rape victim, and her child.

Ferdousi, who graduated from the Dhaka University, has made 18 documentaries and an independent film ‘Ichchha Bashanta’.

She received the Best Shorts award for her film ‘Bishkabbyo’ or ‘The Poison Teller’, at London’s Rainbow International Film Festival in 2014.

She is now shooting for her next film ‘Ajob Sundor.’