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Rubaiyat Hossain

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Rubaiyat Hossain
রুবাইয়াত হোসেন
Hossain in 2016
NationalityBangladeshi
Alma mater
Occupation(s)Director, writer, producer
PartnerAshique Mostafa
Websiterubaiyat-hossain.com

Rubaiyat Hossain is a Bangladeshi film director, writer, and producer. She made the films Meherjaan (2011), Under Construction (2015) and Made in Bangladesh (2019).[1] In 2023, she becomes the second female director to win Bangladesh National Film Award for Best Director for Made in Bangladesh.[2] Made in Bangladesh was listed in criterion collections hidden-gems of the 2010s.[3] Hossain is currently working on her fourth feature film Difficult Bride. Hossain is also the founder Sultana's Dream, a funding and mentorship grant to empower, promote and support the next generation of women filmmakers and storytellers in Bangladesh.[4]

Background and education

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Rubaiyat Hossain was born to Syed Abul Hossain, a former Bangladeshi minister, a member of the parliament, and a businessman.[5] Inspired by the works of Satyajit Ray, Rubaiyat pursued her interest in cinema and completed a diploma in film direction at New York Film Academy in 2002. She has also completed a B. A. in women studies from Smith College, and an M. A. in South Asian studies from the University of Pennsylvania and M. A. in Cinema Studies from Tisch School of the Arts at New York University in the United States. Her primary fields of interest are Sufism, Bengali nationalism, formation of Bengali modernity and its correlation with female sexuality.[6]

Hossain teaches Film Studies, Women's Studies and South Asia Studies at Smith College.

Career

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Hossain's works reflect social realism[1] and use a feminist lens to deconstruct the otherwise phallocentric institution of cinema.[6]

Hossain debuted as a feature filmmaker in 2011 with Meherjaan, a film about a Bengali woman's love affair with a Pakistani soldier during Bangladesh's 1971 war of independence. The film was controversial in Bangladesh and pulled down from cinema halls by its distributors just a week after its release.[7] It did however participate at several film festivals and won a handful of awards.[8]

Hossain's next film, Under Construction, was released in 2015 and tells the story of an urban middle-class woman in an unhappy marriage who plays the role of Nandini in Tagore's play Raktakarabi (Red Oleanders). It has been screened at film festivals around the world and received several awards.[9] Including Prix du Jury International, FICA Vesoul; Mentions spéciales de la critique, FICA Vesoul; Prix Emile Guimet, FICA Vesoul (awarded by Guimet Museum in Paris); Best Audience Award, Dhaka International Film Festival, Two Bangladesh National Film Awards in Best Dialogue & Best Make-up.

Hossain's recent film, Made in Bangladesh, a Bangladesh-France-Denmark-Portugal[10] joint-venture is premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival[11] following the participation at BFI London Film Festival,[12] Locarno Film Festival[13] and other major festivals. This is a "film on Bangladesh's garment workers spotlights women driving change."[14] Distributed by Pyramide Films, the film was widely released in France on 4 December 2019 and running for several months.[15] Made in Bangladesh was listed in criterion collections hidden-gems of the 2010s as "The storytelling in the film is like the lead character—quiet, methodical, and tenacious, reminiscent of the great director Satyajit Ray."

Hossain is currently working on the fourth feature, a Bangladesh-Norway-France-Germany-USA Co production. The Sor fond[16] jury termed Difficult Bride script “an atmospheric and immersive journey, and the jury was fascinated and intrigued by the poetic, yet grotesque, way the filmmaker is planning to visualise the protagonist's feelings and desires.”

Social work

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Hossain has worked for prominent women's rights NGOs in Bangladesh such as Ain O Salish Kendra and Naripokkho. She was also the co-coordinator for the first international workshop on Sexuality and Rights organized by BRAC School of Public Health in 2007.[17][18]

Filmography

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  • Meherjaan (2011, Feature, Writer/Director/Producer)
  • Under Construction (2015, Feature, Writer/Director/Producer)
  • Made in Bangladesh (2019, Feature, Writer/Director/Producer)
  • Difficult Bride (In Financing Stage, Feature, Writer/Director/Producer))

Selected awards/honors

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Khona Talkies

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Hossain and her partner Ashique Mostafa established Khona Talkies in 2008 with the vision of using young Bangladeshi talent to produce films in a local terrain with possible foreign co-production and creative tie-ups. Since its inception, Khona Talkies has produced a few award-winning and internationally acclaimed as well as locally significant independent films by young filmmakers.[27]

Sultana's Dream

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Hossain started Sultana's Dream, a funding and mentorship grant to empower, promote and support the next generation of women filmmakers and storytellers in Bangladesh, named after a 1902 novel by Begaum Rokeya, a pioneer of women's education in South Asia. For its pilot run, the program selected a cohort of 16 emerging women filmmakers who would receive basic filmmaking training across disciplines and guidance for preparing project dossiers and pitching, leadership workshops, script-writing modules, study circles encompassing feminist film history, the female gaze and gendered reading of film texts. Production grant and mentorship has been provided to three projects selected by an independent jury.[28]

References

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  1. ^ a b ""I make my films with honesty" - Rubaiyat Hossain". The Daily Star. 10 January 2020. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
  2. ^ Arts & Entertainment Desk (14 November 2023). "Rubaiyat Hossain becomes second female director to win National Film Award". The Daily Star. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  3. ^ "Hidden gems of the 2010s". The Criterion Collection. 30 December 2019.
  4. ^ Ramachandran, Naman (12 February 2022). "Bangladesh's Rubaiyat Hossain Sets Berlin Co-Production Market Project 'Difficult Bride,' Women Filmmaker Grant".
  5. ^ "Personal Biography". Archived from the original on 25 November 2018. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  6. ^ a b "About". Rubaiyat Hossain. 2 May 2011. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
  7. ^ "Bangladeshi war film Meherjaan rekindles old enmities". BBC News. 19 April 2011. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
  8. ^ "Rubaiyat Hossain". IMDb.
  9. ^ "Under Construction". Khona Talkies.
  10. ^ "Made in Bangladesh".
  11. ^ "Made in Bangladesh". Toronto International Film Festival.
  12. ^ "BFI London Film Festival". Archived from the original on 21 October 2020.
  13. ^ "Locarno 2020". Archived from the original on 20 October 2020. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  14. ^ "Film on Bangladesh's garment workers spotlights women driving change". Reuters.
  15. ^ Raihan, Siam (14 December 2019). "Made in Bangladesh hits theatres across Europe". Dhaka Tribune. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  16. ^ "The Difficult Bride". Sorfond. 12 October 2023.
  17. ^ "About".
  18. ^ "UNA-NY Screening the Issues".
  19. ^ "Rubaiyat Hossain makes history as 2nd female director to win National Film Award". Dhaka Tribune. 15 November 2023. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  20. ^ "Guimet Museum of Paris honours Rubaiyat Hossain". The Independent. 25 April 2016. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  21. ^ "The winners of 37TFF's collateral awards". Torino Film Festival. 30 November 2019. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
  22. ^ "The Norwegian Peace Film Award". Archived from the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  23. ^ "ORGANISATION SNIPPETS".
  24. ^ "Rubaiyat Hossain". IMDb.
  25. ^ "Made in Bangladesh (Bangladesh)". Best of ADIFF 2019. Archived from the original on 31 October 2020. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
  26. ^ Haÿne, Angélique (23 November 2019). "Palmarès de la 39e édition du Festival International du Film d'Amiens". FIFAM (in French). Retrieved 9 January 2020.
  27. ^ "Khona Talkies". Khonatalkies.com. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  28. ^ "Sultana's Dream to produce 3 films by young women". Dhaka Tribune. 18 September 2022. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
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