The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) 2024 commenced last Thursday with David Gordon Green's film "Nutcrackers" as the opening feature, starring Ben Stiller in the lead role. This year's festival is particularly noteworthy for our local film enthusiasts, as the Bangladeshi film "Saba" has been selected for the Discovery Program. Additionally, 23 other films have been included in this category.

Mehazabien Chowdhury stars in this debut film of hers, "Saba", where she takes on the titular role. This film also marks the directorial debut of Maksud Hossain.

The debut film by director Maksud Hossain and actress Mehazabien is hence being presented to audiences for the first time today for its world premiere at the international festival. "Saba" will be screened again on September 8 and 14.

Notably, before the festival even began, all tickets for the screening of "Saba" were sold out. On August 27, Mehazabien informed Prothom Alo that the tickets had been snapped up within minutes.

"I attempted to purchase three tickets for friends but was unsuccessful. The film will be shown three times at the festival, and there will also be a special screening exclusively for invited journalists, filmmakers, and artistes," Mehazabien affirmed.

The film, produced by Fusion Pictures, features a screenplay penned by Maksud Hossain and Trilora Khan, with cinematography by Barkat Hossain Polash.

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"Saba" has not been released in the country as of yet. Producer Maksud informed Prothom Alo that the film is scheduled to premiere domestically early next year. Prior to that, there are plans to showcase the film at several other international film festivals. 

Maksud Hossain has a long history of producing short films and commercials. In addition to his production work, he is also recognised as a screenwriter. At present, he is working on the script for his upcoming film, titled "Babymoon".