A small office in Niketan, Dhaka: Ground Zero. On Thursday evening (May 7), the space was packed for a press conference centered on Abdullah Mohammad Saad’s next project, ‘Annie’. Producers, actors, and crew members were all present. Only Saad himself was absent.
Known internationally for ‘Rehana Maryam Noor’, Saad’s ‘Annie’ is a miniseries that has been selected for its world premiere in the ‘Women in Series’ section of Seriencamp Festival, one of the world’s most influential festivals dedicated to series content. Through Saad, Bangladesh is entering the festival for the first time with a series production.
The screening is scheduled for June 9 in Cologne, Germany. The Series Camp Festival is regarded as the first festival fully devoted to showcasing television series.
‘Annie’ is set in a dystopian world. Nazifa Tushi plays 27-year-old ‘Annie’, a nurse from a small town who struggles to raise her five siblings on her own while the outside world grapples with a mysterious disease. The illness drives infected men into uncontrollable hatred toward women.
Amid this ‘hate pandemic’, a masked attacker brutally assaults ‘Annie’ one night. The violence changes her forever. As she battles the hatred surrounding her and growing within herself, ‘Annie’ descends into a darkness where revenge appears to be the only path left.
Like Saad’s previous works, the series questions the enduring distrust, inequality, and violence embedded within relationships between men and women.
Tushi shared how she became involved with the project. After the massive success of Hawa, she joined the series in 2023.
‘Saad is my favourite director. When his team approached me, I agreed before even hearing the story,’ she said.
Not only Tushi, but actors including Farhana Mithu and Sarika said they joined the project because of Saad. Mithu remarked, ‘Saad rediscovered me as an actor.’ She added that whenever she works elsewhere now, she often wonders how Saad would have directed a particular scene.
Before filming began in 2023, the cast rehearsed together continuously for two months. Shooting continued for around six weeks on a specially built set outside Dhaka. The series also stars Yash Rohan, Symon Sadik, and Naza.
The series has been produced under the banners of Metrovideo, Catalog, Jirel and Audacious Originals by producers Ehsanul Haque Babu and Ali Afzal Uzzal. Co-producers include Shihab Nurun Nabi, Tuhin Tamizul, Tanvir Hossain, Johan Chapelan, Saiful Islam and Raihan Sikder, while Apurba Bokshi serves as executive producer.
Saad made his feature debut in 2016 with Live from Dhaka. The film won Best Director and Best Actor awards at the Singapore International Film Festival and was screened at major festivals, including the International Film Festival Rotterdam and the Locarno Film Festival.
He later gained nationwide recognition in 2021 with Rehana Maryam Noor, which became the first Bangladeshi film selected for the official lineup of the prestigious ‘Un Certain Regard’ section at the Cannes Film Festival. The film was also screened at more than 15 international festivals worldwide.
