ALL THE WAY FROM BUSHAN

Once upon a time, the name of "Bushan International Film Festival" was "Pushan International Film Festival". Bushan is the largest sea port of South Korea and the second biggest city of the country. Now, Bushan is not only recognized as the sea port but also as the center of art and culture, and is known as the “city of art and culture". The city was celebrating its International film festival for 17 years and this festival is recognized as one of the top five film festivals of the world as well as the biggest organized festival of Asia.

After attending the festival this time, I can safely say that everyone should try to attend it at least once if they ever have the opportunity and see how a city can celebrate a film festival. A film by director Mostafa Sarwar Farooqi from Bangladesh was given various recognition by this festival earlier. But, for the very first time this year, Bangladesh has achieved the opportunity to participate in the 'contest section' of such a big film festival through the film 'Jalaler Golpo', produced by newcomer Abu Shahed Imon, which has participated in the main competition.
Opposite to the Hotel Grand, there was an enormous bill board displaying the twelve films selected for the festival. My eyes were glued to that bill board which, surprisingly, was in Bangla. I cannot express the emotion this evoked in me, I was teary-eyed. Opposite to the sea hotel, there was a billboard in Bangla: Jalaler Golpo. For next few days, I took part in various venues of this festival, everywhere the name of the film was shining in Bangla. The film was projected four times. It was already publicized that, the film was mind blowing! So, there were crowds of viewers in every hall.

In the 4th exhibition I found an actor from Bangladesh, Taukeer Ahmed, among all Korean viewers. After the credit roll of the movie, I did not get a moment to talk to him. Many viewers of our country gathered around him, cheering him on. Among the judges I met, was the last Oscar winning producer from Iran, Mohasen Maqmalbof. I also spoke to another famous actress of Iran, Motamediya. Everyone was full of praise about Bangladesh. My eyes were glued seeing an actor of Marathi film. Seeing him, I was feeling that I must have seen him in another festival. After a while, I felt that I have seen him in the movie 'Life of Pi', where he played the role of the father.

He was also playing the lead character of the film which was participating in the contest of the festival. During a conversation with him, he asked me to watch his film. He assured me that, despite the film being in Marathi, I won't have difficulty in understanding it because there were very few dialogues in the film. The actor was speaking to me in very clear Bangla. I was asking him with surprise, ' How can you talk in Bangla? Are you Bengali?' He was smiling. He said, 'Yes, I am a native Bengali. My name is Adil Hossain. I am from Mymensingh. Even the producer of the film was also a Bengali.'

Before I could contain my excitement, they informed me that they had really enjoyed watching 'Jalaler Golpo'. Whether it would win the award or not, they could not say.  But as the film is participating in the film festival, it automatically means that it's excellent. Imon could not achieve the prize for his first film but that was not a matter of disappointment for us. Because Bangladesh was represented on the Red Carpet Ceremony of one of the best five film festivals of the world. This alone was a big deal for us. We were proud.

I had the chance to share some words with some of the jury members at our hotel lobby before departure. Azgar Farid, the main jury of the jury board was saying, "I am not saying this formally, but your movie was really a good one, but if the ending had not been too long, who knows, maybe you could bring great news for your country. Do the editing again and make an arrangement to send it to other festivals. The story and acting in this film is unbeatable."

Creating a great hype about the film was a way of upholding Bangladesh with glory. We were returning with this precious gift from the festival. I hope that everyone realizes that participating in big film festival is a big reward in itself, a reward for the country.