Bangladeshi film ‘Saatao’ selected for Russia’s Kazan Int’l film fest

Khandaker Sumon directorial "Saatao" has been selected for the 19th Kazan International Muslim Film Festival. It is the only Bangladeshi film to be nominated in the Russia-Islamic World category along with 9 other movies from different countries.

The film festival will kick off at Russia's Tatarstan on September 5 and run till September 9. The festival is held with the support of Government of Russia and the Rais of the Republic of Tatarstan.

"Saatao" will be competing with "The Last Birds of Passage" (Turkey), "Paralympian" (Kazakhstan), "Home for Sale" (Kyrgyzstan), "In the form of love" (Iran), "Unhappy Groom" (Uzbekistan), "Orpa" (Indonesia), "Crier" (Russia, Tatarstan), "Knots" (Russia), and "Mariam" (India).

Although the film hasn't been nominated in the main category, the winners in the Islamic World category will claim a cash prize of three lakh Rubels (which can be roughly estimated to be more than Tk3.5 lakhs).

Earlier on, the film bagged the Gautam Buddha Award under the World Panorama category at the 6th Nepal International Film Festival (NIFF) in March.

The crowd-funded movie, "Saatao", is based on the lives of the marginalised community. Aynun Putul and Fazlul Haque play pivotal roles in the movie.

The plot revolves around a farmer called Fazlu and his wife Putul. Fazlu becomes concerned about Putul feeling isolated at home, so he decides to surprise her with a thoughtful gift—a cow. With this new companion, Putul's loneliness begins to fade, and she gradually overcomes the emotional challenge of leaving her father's house.

However, the story takes a twist as unfavourable environmental conditions start affecting farmers like Fazlu. They face increasing difficulties due to further unfortunate circumstances when the river overflows, causing havoc downstream and disrupting the lives of both people and animals residing in the area.

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‘Saatao’ wins Gautam Buddha Award at NIFF

Besides directing the movie, Khandaker Sumon also wrote the story, screenplay, and dialogue for "Saatao". The movie also stars Sabera Yasmin, Tashmita Shimu, Mitu Sarkar, among others.