Filmmaker in Focus | N. Rashed Chowdhury

Join us for a two-day screening programme of films by N. Rashed Chowdhury, featuring a selection of his documentary and fiction works. The programme concludes with a Masterclass on his filmmaking practice on 8 August 2026.

7– 8 August 2026 | 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM | Drishya Karkhana,

277/5 (3rd Floor), Elephant Road, Katabon Dhal, Dhaka

Enquiries: 01870476234 | 01773404517

Open to All | Free Admission (Registration Required) | Registration: https://docs.google.com/…/1FAIpQLSfYsnDMvvSKfg…/viewform

Screening Schedule:

7 August

The Long Wait (On Artist Novera) | (49′)

The River Lethe (35′)

Ujaner Jatri (On Artist Shahid Kabir) | (65′)

8 August

Chandrabati Kotha (105′)

Masterclass: A Filmmaker’s Practice (following the screening)

About the Filmmaker

N Rashed Chowdhury

N Rashed Chowdhury is a Bangladeshi filmmaker, producer, and film activist whose work focuses on history, memory, folklore, and marginalized cultural traditions. He is a founding director of Dhaka DocLab, an important South Asian documentary film pitching platform that brings together emerging filmmakers, producers, and international mentors.

For more than three decades, he has been associated with the Bangladesh Short Film Forum and the broader Film Society Movement of Bangladesh, contributing significantly to the development of the country’s independent and alternative cinema culture. He has directed numerous short films and documentaries that have been screened at national and international festivals and has served as Festival Director of the International Short & Independent Film Festival, Dhaka.

His first feature film, Chandrabati Kotha (The Tales of Chandrabati), based on the life of the sixteenth-century Bengali poet Chandrabati, received the National Filmmaking Grant and was recognized at several international film events.

He is currently developing his second feature film, Shokhi Rongomala (Beloved Rongomala), adapted from a novel by acclaimed writer Shahin Akhter. The project explores Vaishnava devotional culture, caste, colonialism, and the erasure of marginalized communities in eighteenth-century East Bengal.

Alongside his creative practice, Rashed teaches filmmaking at university level and continues to work as an independent filmmaker and producer in Bangladesh.

The Long Wait (On Artist Novera)

Director: N Rashed Chowdhury

Country: Bangladesh

Year: 1999

Runtime: 49 minutes

Time: Friday, 07 August 2026 | 6:00 PM

Synopsis: The Long Wait (নহন্যতে) is an independent documentary inspired by the enigmatic self-imposed exile of Bangladesh’s pioneering female sculptor, Novera Ahmed. At the height of her artistic career in Bangladesh, she abruptly left the country, leaving behind a legacy marked by both brilliance and mystery. The film unfolds through the journey of a contemporary architecture student who becomes deeply fascinated by Novera’s life and work. As the student searches for the reasons behind her departure, the documentary gradually transforms into a poetic exploration of memory, absence, artistic identity, and the enduring presence of an artist whose spirit continues to resonate beyond her physical disappearance.

The River Lethe (Bishmwaraner Nadi)

Director: N Rashed Chowdhury

Country: Bangladesh

Runtime: 35 minutes

Year: 2003

Time: Friday, 07 August 2026 | 7:00 PM

Synopsis: The unavoidable alienation of a young woman forces her to commit suicide-leaving her 6 years old child behind. The collective unconscious alienation that lives in every human being- forms from her unfulfilled dreams…. unforgettable past memories…. She hopes- taking a bath into the River of forgetfulness -The River Lethe, will release her of all her alienation and will help her to begin a new life…

Ujaner Jatri (On Artist Shahid Kabir)

Director: N Rashed Chowdhury

Country: Bangladesh

Year: 2014

Runtime: 65 minutes

Time: Friday, 07 August 2026 | 7:30 PM

Synopsis: Shahid Kabir: Prantikotar Rupokar (aka Ujaner Jatri) is a poetic and intimate documentary portrait of eminent Bangladeshi painter Shahid Kabir, whose art emerged from a deep engagement with the people, landscapes, and cultural memory of Bangladesh. Filmed over several years, the documentary follows the artist through his everyday life, creative process, and journeys across rural and urban Bangladesh. Through conversations, observations, and reflections, the film reveals how Shahid Kabir transformed ordinary lives, marginalized communities, and the textures of the Bengal landscape into a distinctive visual language.

Chandrabati Kotha

Director: N Rashed Chowdhury

Country: Bangladesh

Year: 2019

Runtime: 105 minutes

Time: Friday, 08 August 2026 | 6:00 PM

Synopsis: Chandrabati, the young daughter of a renowned poet, is deeply in love with the poet Jayananda. On the eve of their wedding, however, Jayananda betrays her by marrying another woman from their community. Devastated by the betrayal, Chandrabati withdraws from worldly life and takes refuge in a Shiva temple, where she vows to rewrite the epic Ramayana.

Immersed in solitude and reflection, she revisits her early writings and resolves to place Sita, the long-neglected female figure of the epic, at the centre of the narrative. Through this act of creative resistance, Chandrabati transforms personal grief into artistic and spiritual strength. Realizing the magnitude of his mistake, Jayananda eventually returns to the temple seeking Chandrabati’s forgiveness. She refuses to accept him back and remains devoted to completing the ballad born from her own conscience and experience.

Chandrabati Kotha is a tribute to the rich ballad-writing traditions of sixteenth-century East Bengal and to the voice of one of the earliest feminist poets in Bengali literature.