Hemanta Sadeeq: From madrasa to Oscar qualifiers
Young director Hemanta Sadeeq once came across a signboard on a tree by the side of the road. It read "Do not use nails"; and yet the signboard was pegged to the tree with a nail.
This simple signboard inspired him to work closely with scriptwriter Shawon Koiri to develop the story for 'Life: Low Budget Short Film'.
The film was recently selected under the Smartphone Film Competition category at the 25th edition of the Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia. It is an Academy Awards accredited festival where the winner of the Best Short will be eligible for nomination in the short film categories of the Academy Awards the following year.
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The festival will be held from 6 June to 26 June in Tokyo, Japan.
The film tells the story of a movie crew who rent an ambulance to shoot a movie around Dhaka, while a critically ill patient struggles to find an ambulance.
"It is essentially a movie within a movie and it was shot in one night with an iPhone 13 Pro Max smartphone," said Hemanta.
This is a significant milestone for the young director as 'Life' is the only Bangladeshi film to be featured in the official lineup of the festival. Hemanta and producer Sohel Ahmed have been invited to attend the festival.
"Life in many ways resembles a low-budget short film. There is one struggle after another, and you can never be satisfied. The movie actually highlights this. Besides, it also tells the story of some of the inequalities that exist in our society," he added.
Hemanta's early life
Hemanta began his education at a Hafizia Madrasa, but after completing it, he faced difficulties in a Dakhil Madrasa due to his lack of real-world knowledge.
"My classmates made fun of me," he said. "In the Hafizia madrasa, I only learned how to recite the Quran and my only duty was to memorise it. At the Dakhil madrasa I faced difficulties understanding the courses, as I didn't have any basic education. I was like a student of class five with the brain of a class one student."
However, he started going to Rajshahi Public Library regularly to gather knowledge outside his textbook. Within a few months, he discovered a better version of himself.
In 2008, Hemanta came across an advertisement in a newspaper for an essay competition organised by the Children's Film Society Bangladesh. The topic for the competition was "My Favourite Film" and winners would be brought to Dhaka at the organisers' expense to attend a film festival designed for children.
Hemanta found it intriguing. However, he did not have a favourite film to write about because he hadn't watched any film in his whole life. Fortunately, he had once heard about a popular novel called 'Dipu Number Two' written by Muhammed Zafar Iqbal, which was adapted into a film.
Despite being unable to watch the movie, Hemanta decided to read the novel and write an essay on it. His essay was selected as a winner and he was invited to attend the 1st International Children's Film Festival Bangladesh 2008 in Dhaka, where he watched films from around the world and was deeply moved, and wanted to show them to his friends.
So he asked the festival director, Morshedul Islamm about it, and the director said, "there is no way to do that, but if you can arrange a film fest in your city, your friends and others can watch all these films."
This led Hemanta to form the first-ever film society in Rajshahi, called Children's Film Society, Rajshahi. But he also had to do it discreetly. He had to change his name from Sadiqur Rahman to Hemanta Sadeeq.
"Being from the Madrasa, it was tough for me to be involved in the cultural field," he said.
In 2009, he arranged the 1st International Children's Film Festival in Rajshahi. That is how Hemanta's journey as a film society activist began. In the same year, he made his first short film 'Swapno Bhangar Golpo', which was screened at several film festivals.
A couple of years later, he got admitted to Dhaka University to study Theatre and Performance Studies. "But my family thought that I was studying International Relations," he added. He decided to drop out of the programme after a few semesters to fully focus on his passion for film activism.
In 2015, Hemanta launched a new film society named Cinema Bangladesh, with the aim to decentralise filmmaking in the country. Cinema Bangladesh is the only film society to win the prestigious Joy Bangla Youth Award for its contributions to society.
In the meantime, he gained international recognition with his 2017 short film, 'A Letter to God', which premiered at the renowned 58th Asia Pacific Film Festival (APFF 58). The film went on to receive numerous prestigious awards, including Best Film in the Drama category in Hollywood, USA, Best Foreign Language Film in Italy, Jury Mentions Award in Norway, Best Film and Young Talent Award in Bangladesh, among others.
His most recent work, 'Khowab: Castle in the Air', was also highly acclaimed and recognised as a 'Film Bazaar Recommends (FBR)' short film.
Currently, Hemanta is focused on his debut feature film, 'Rigon: Tale of a Father', a co-production between Bangladesh and Italy. The script is being written by the renowned writer Mr Shahaduzzaman. The film will be shot in Italy, France and Bangladesh.
"We have already conducted auditions for international actors in Venice, Italy, with over two hundred participants from nine countries. The big-budget film is expected to be released in 2025," said Hemanta.
