Matir Projar Deshe releasing March 23

“Matir Projar Deshe” (English title “Kingdom of Clay Subjects”) is finally set for release in Bangladesh on March 23, after its successful rounds at the international film festival circuit. Bijon Imtiaz's directorial debut, that premiered in May 2016 at the Seattle International Film Festival and won Best Film at the Chicago South Asian Film Festival the same year, will see a rather limited release in Dhaka and other cities including Star Cineplex and Jamuna Blockbuster in the capital and Uposhohor in Rajshahi.

The film revolves around Jamal, a 10-year old boy from a village in rural Bangladesh, who seeks out his own identity as he develops a perception about the society around him. The film, that was reportedly five years in the making, boasts a formidable international crew and boasts to be the first Bangladeshi film with entirely live-recorded audio. The film's cast itself is not shabby by any means, with seasoned campaigners like Jayanta Chattopadhyay, Rokeya Prachi, Kochi Khandakar and others in it.

The impression from the film's trailer, released anew on March 7, promises a striking narrative in a candid, yet sensitive storytelling approach. The director's academic schooling in filmmaking (Masters in filmmaking from University of California, Los Angeles) is quite evident in the trailer, as is apparent the care taken in making the film. This new trailer, however, has some elements missing from another old trailer that had been published before, although it does add some new footage.

“Matir Projar Deshe”, which is produced by Arifur Rahman from his Goopy Bagha Productions, was scheduled to have its Dhaka premiere at the 15th Dhaka International Film Festival last year but was withdrawn last-minute as the producers said they were not satisfied with the projection and sound system, and did not want to compromise for the Dhaka premiere.

Meanwhile, two Indian musicians of note – Arko Mukherjee and Satyaki Banerjee – have composed a song for the film that will be used as promotional material. The musician duo from Kolkata apparently wrote the song as a 'gift' to the film, after being enamored by it. Arko and Satyaki are set to arrive in Dhaka today as well, to attend an event for the film.