Eminent Bangladeshi filmmaker Mostofa Sarwar Farooki’s seventh and latest full-length film ‘Shonibar Bikel’ (Saturday Afternoon) has been selected for screening under Bagri Foundation in the ongoing ‘London India Film Festival’. The film festival is being held in London from June 20 to 29 while in Manchester from June 26 to 29 and in Birmingham from June 21 to July 1.
Farooki’s ‘Shonibar Bikel’ will be screened at Genesis Cinema in London on June 27, while the film will be screened at Home Cinema Manchester in Manchester on June 29. Earlier on June 25, the film will see its UK premiere at the Barbican Centre in London.
Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, producer Anna Katchko, actors Nusrat Imrose Tisha, Eyad Hourani, and Gousul Alam Shaon will attend two shows of the film.
‘Saturday Afternoon’, a Bangladesh-Germany joint production, is produced by Abdul Aziz from Jaaz Multimedia and Farooki from Chabial.
On a pleasant Saturday afternoon, six terrorists raid a café in downtown Dhaka, Bangladesh. The attackers divide the patrons by religion and kill the foreigners first. The few surviving hostages, all of them are Muslims, attempt to maintain their humanity in spite of the situation. Basing their story on the attack on the Café Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka on July 1, 2016, director and scriptwriter Farooki examines how and why the attack took place and explores the contradictions inherent in the ideologies and religions involved. This film was shot in a single take.
The film casts Nusrat Imrose Tisha, Zahid Hasan, Mamunur Rashid, Nader Chowdhury, Intekhab Dinar, Iresh Zaker and Gousul Alam Shaon from Bangladesh, while Palestinian actor Eyad Hourani and Indian actor Parambrata Chatterjee are also among the other cast in the film.
The film ‘Shonibar Bikel’ will be also screened at the Munich International Film Festival in Germany on June 29. Earlier in April this year, ‘Shonibar Bikel’ won two independent jury awards at the 41st Moscow International Film Festival (MIFF).