Bangladeshi short film “The Last Post Office” has been selected at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, the biggest film festival in the world dedicated to short films. The 41st edition of the festival will take place from February 1 to 9 in Clermont-Ferrand, France.
It is also the second largest film festival in France after Cannes, in terms of audience and professional attendance, boasting over 160,000 attendees and 3,500 professionals annually.
Directed by Aung Rakhine, written by Rajib Rafe and co-produced by Rubaiyat Hossain and Aadnan Imtiaz Ahmed, “The Last Post Office” is a fairy-tale with an evil twist.
“On the edge of Bangladesh, cradled between mountains and water, stands a post office-the only mark of civilization. This post office has a notorious reputation. People who work here, disappear,” says the film’s synopsis.
Earlier this year, the 17-minute-long film had its world premiere at Locarno Film Festival’s Open Doors section. “The Last Post Office,” shot in Bangla, is Aung Rakhine’s 2nd film and his debut "Mor Thengari - My Bicycle” was the first Chakma language film in Bangladesh.
The Dhaka Tribune’s Showtime contacted the film’s director about his recent achievement. Aung told Showtime: “To sum it in one word, it is challenging."
"And as days are passing by expectations of the audience and my own as a film-maker are increasing. The international festival circuit and international distributors are asking for something even better. So, it is challenging for me and and constantly fighting with myself as a film-maker that how I can improve my upcoming projects even more than this one,” he added.
"Clermont-Ferrand is the most important festival for short films, so we are thrilled that ‘The Last Post Office’ has been selected," said the film’s producer Aadnan Imtiaz Ahmed.
"They chose some of the best films made in the current year and their trademark is the discovery of new filmmakers."
“720 Degrees” by Ishtiaque Zico was another Bangladeshi film chosen in this section back in 2011.
“The Last Post Office” features Ashish Khondker, Shariar Ferdous Shazeeb and Ashok Bepari in the lead roles. The film was shot by Barakat Hossain Polash and Ripon Nath was the sound designer. The film was produced by Khona Talkies.
