Throughout an eventful semester BRAC University Film Club packed up the year having a wonderful conversation with ‘Finding Bangladesh’ team. Yes, ‘KOTHOPOKOTHON’ was all about finding Bangladesh team this time.
Finding Bangladesh team started their adventure to learn about the history of the country back in 2008 at the beginning of August. While many people out there get excited hearing only their name, others are not aware of their activities yet at all. Finding Bangladesh is a documentary series that is highly concerned about the mythology, history and the rich heritage of the country. The Director of the series, Adnan M.S Fakir started his journey along with 14 other members to create something which is out of the box. Visiting different districts from different divisions of the country and spreading the resources and the unseen beauty of the cities is not just that easy task. This is how they are finding our beloved Bangladesh. The very first documentary of Finding Bangladesh was released in August, 2008 covering the historical sites and stories of Dhaka and Rajshahi city that won awards in two categories; the Celebrating Life award for best documentary and best debut documentary at the Iowa Film Festival. Their second documentary was published in May, 2014 covering the heritage of Barishal and Khulna. Adnan Fakir did join the club to inform about their next move which is their third and final part covering the mesmerizing beauty and mythology of Chittagong and Sylhet city. Now they are going to release a documentary film on complete Bangladesh in the January 2017. The editing and cinematography of the documentaries are being observed by the honorable faculty of Economics department of BRAC University and the creator of Finding Bangladesh Adnan Fakir himself. To explain about the goals he shared on the stage, ‘We have a rich heritage that we should be proud about but sadly, not much is known regarding ancient Bengal. The main purpose of the film is to spread awareness among the youths, and to show the terrible traffic conditions, weak leaders, and poverty in all shapes and sizes’.
Another team member who is working whole heartedly for Finding Bangladesh since the time he was a student of BRAC University and it has been almost 7 to 8 years, he is the Voice Director of Finding Bangladesh Stawb Peter Halder. On stage he shared all the difficulties and the risk they faced during the shoots and travels starting from family restrictions to the equipment shortage but, that never has been a reason to stop them finding Bangladesh and all the hidden beauties that it carries. They surely know all the struggles and this is why they are offering all the supports and backups to the latent talents who are interested in film making, photography, cinematography and documentary. Durin conversation with BRAC University Film Club, they allocated few tasks among which, one of the very innovative one, was the idea to present the beautiful Bangladesh to the world by posting on social media, capturing marvelous and different historical places of the country with hash tag of FindingBangladesh.
The subject History has never been presented deeply, correctly and innovatively to the people, the reason people still aren’t aware of what our country carries. Finding Bangladesh team decided to create plots to add extra spice to the journey and their plot outlines are Sea monsters, Leaning temples, Seductive ghosts, Unintentional heroes, Ruthless kings, Tiger tamers and some more and all this in our own loving country Bangladesh that will be presented in a bucket load of humor a copious amount of life that will make the film lively keeping the content intact and confidential. Another interesting fact Mr. Adnan Fakir shared about Finding Bangladesh is, “we travel using unique amphibious vehicles, a boat attached with wheels, that we designed and built ourselves and lovingly call “Damzel in Distress.” DID in short and the new one is ‘Loo on Wheels’ that is made of two joint rickshaws which is an eco-friendly vehicle.” This is how it is revealing the mesmerizing secrets of the beautiful Bangladesh in front of the whole world; this is how they are keeping their journey alive of finding Bangladesh which is an endless adventure and presenting us in the form of mythical stories.
Towards the end, one very motivational speech by the lord of Finding Bangladesh Adnan M.S Fakir that sums up the whole,” We grumble and we complain; but life is so audaciously simple and marvelous that we often lose grasp of it. The life of Bangladesh is no different. We just have to make it grow.”