Movie ‘Saatao’ selected for 19th Kazan Int’l Film Festival in Russia

Entertainment Desk :
Khandaker Sumon directed movie ‘Saatao’ has been selected
for the 19th Kazan International Muslim Film Festival. It is the only Bangladeshi movie to be nominated in the Russia-Islamic World
category along with nine other movies from different countries,
said a press release. The film festival will kick off at Russia’s
Tatarstan on September 5 and run till September 9. The festival
is held with the support of Government of Russia and
the Rais of the Republic of Tatarstan.
‘Saatao’ will be competing with ‘The Last Birds of Passage’ (Turkey), ‘Paralympian’ (Kazakhstan), ‘Home for Sale’ (Kyrgyzstan), ‘In the form of Love’ (Iran), ‘Unhappy Groom’ (Uzbekistan), ‘Orpa’ (Indonesia), ‘Crier’ (Russia, Tatarstan), ‘Knots’ (Russia) and ‘Mariam’ (India).
Although ‘Saatao’ hasn’t been nominated in the main category,
the winners in the Islamic World category will claim a cash
prize of three lakh Rubels (which can be roughly estimated
to be more than Tk3.5 lakhs).
Earlier on, ‘Saatao’ bagged the Gautam Buddha Award under the World Panorama category at the 6th Nepal International Film Festival (NIFF) in March. The crowd-funded movie, ‘Saatao’, is based on the lives of the marginalised community. Aynun Putul and Fazlul Haque played pivotal roles in the movie. The plot revolves around a farmer called
Fazlu and his wife Putul. Fazlu becomes concerned about Putul
feeling isolated at home, so he decides to surprise her with a
thoughtful gift-a cow. With this new companion, Putul’s
loneliness begins to fade, and she gradually overcomes the
emotional challenge of leaving her father’s house.
However, the story takes a twist as unfavourable environmental conditions start affecting farmers like Fazlu. They face increasing
difficulties due to further unfortunate circumstances when the
river overflows, causing havoc downstream and disrupting
the lives of both people and animals residing in the area.
Besides directing the movie, Khandaker Sumon also wrote the story, screenplay, and dialogue for ‘Saatao’. The movie also stars Sabera Yasmin, Tashmita Shimu, Mitu Sarkar, among others.