BFFW 2016: Under Construction and Q&A (German premiere)

Female filmmakers from Bangladesh are very rare, especially if dealing with feminism and we are very excited to present Rubaiyat Hossain at this year's festival. Her critically acclaimed debut Meherjaan(2011) dealt with political and cultural wrath in Bangladesh and was appreciated for its anti war narrative, and its critic of masculine nationalism from a feminine point of view. In her second feature film, Under Construction, Hossain takes on the formation of Bengali modernity and its correlation with female sexuality.

Under Construction(2015) is about a modern Muslim woman struggling to find herself in the sprawl of urban Bangladesh, where middle class actress Roya reconstructs a famous and politically minded play of Rabindranath Tagore for modern times, reclaiming her agency in the process.

Director Rubaiyat Hossain and main actress Shahana Goswami are going to be present for a Q&A.

Director's Statement

"In claiming her body-mind-soul how does a woman’s introspective journey gets entangled with the battle on the outside in a world of post-colonial reality where political violence, religious extremism, sweatshop labors, and impunity largely paint the terrain?

‘Womanhood’ authored by patriarchy sustains a power-pleasure-desire lattice by generating, sustaining and reproducing cultural myths about female sexuality. ‘Womanhood’ authored by women, female sexuality comprehended and utilized for the purpose of woman’s subject formation is still largely a process ‘under construction.’

In ‘Under Construction,’ a woman who has not yet been born into subjectivity seeks to unsettle the iconic image of the archetypical Bengali woman—‘Nandini,’ the ultimate depiction of feminine spirit represented as the heroine of Rabindranath Tagore’s last play ‘Rakta Karabi’ or ‘The Red Oleanders.’"

Venue: SPUTNIK Kino - Kreuzberg
Time & Date: 12th of March, 15:00
Language: English subtitles/English Q&A