Bangladeshi short film ‘Sole Mate’, directed by Adel Imam Anup, has been selected for the Russian film festival ‘International Film Festival Antares’, taking place in Moscow.
Sole Mate is the first film directed by young, new director Anup and he hit the ball out of the park with his first-ever production by securing a nomination in an international film festival.
The festival starts on August 6 and will continue until August 10. The four-minute long film is competing in the documentary category of the festival.
The festival authorities have commented that this is truly an extraordinary achievement for the film because more than 2,400 films were submitted from different countries to participate in the festival. Out of them, only 104 films from 29 countries made it to the final round.
Speaking to Times of Bangladesh, Anup said, “It is a real honor for an independent filmmaker like me to secure a place at an international film festival. It is incredible. Our work is quite difficult as there are numerous limitations. Still, some people have trusted me and supported me in my work, and I am grateful to them.”
The plotline of the short film is centered around a pair of shoes. How would it be if shoes could express feelings? What would they say and what the final outcome would be — this is what the film depicts. The film does not have any human characters — the feet wearing the shoes does all the talking.
The entire film was narrated through voiceover. Rezwan Kabir Kollol was the voiceover artist for this short film.
Sole Mate has had two screenings so far in Dhaka. Its inaugural screening was held at the Friendly Neighborhood Filmmaker Fest (FNF) Season One. The second screening was at the National Theatre of Shilpakala Academy.
Sole Mate was written by Adel Imam Anup and Rezwan Kabir Kollol. The screenplay is by Sheikh Korashanee. Asaduzzaman Abir was the cinematographer and editor of the film. Fazle Rabbi acted as the assistant cinematographer.