A new short film directed by David Munoz and co-produced by Six Oranges has been completed (June 2010). Shot on the Canon EOS 5D Mark II on our last two visits to Bangladesh, the film tells of the forced repatriation of three Bangladeshi migrant workers after the financial crisis in Dubai, and the implications for their lives. For many in the world migration provides the only hope for escaping poverty. Equally, many who have  migrated know about the other side of that hope – suffering.  They leave behind their homes and families and everything they know to submit themselves to the mercy of their employers in distant countries as well as middlemen who recruit at home. This is a fact of life for huge numbers of people who pay large sums of money in order to go abroad to do honest work. This film tells the story of three such men from the rural village of Rajbari, Bangladesh who travelled to the Middle East. For more information GO HERE

We held a most successful week-long photo exhibition following the Ummid 2010 photo competition. See the winners here.  Over 500 images were received, and we displayed the top 41 images at the Alliance Francaise de Dhaka. The Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission Honourable Justice Amirul Kabir Chowdhury  opened the photo exhibtion. We received good press coverage and TV channel Bangla ATN also covered it. Plans are afoot to publish a book.

Six Oranges found Belgian street artist Roa a big wall in Hanbury Street, off Brick Lane and gave him a cherry picker. Roa produced an absolute showstopper and the biggest piece of street art in London. See more pictures here. We filmed the incredible performance for our documentary on art and Brick Lane. It has received a lot of attention including coverage by street art and art websites/blogs like Unurth, Juxtapoz magazine and Vandalog. The London Evening Standard also carried a picture of Roa painting. Roa was here in London for his amazing show at Pure Evil gallery.

Given the recent tragic death of 23 workers in a fire at a garment factory in Bangladesh and continued struggles for a minimum wage, we are pleased that our film Bostrobalikara will be shown at the Nodo Doc Film Festival in Trieste, Italy on 8th May.

Shafiur Rahman and Bablu Sheikh are organising the Ummid 2010 Photo Competition along with Al-Falah Bangladesh. The competition is to mark the 2nd anniversary of a landmark court judgement which brought statelessness to an end for the Urdu-speaking people of Bangladesh. The issue was the subject of a an award-winning documentary, Swapnabhumi, co-produced by Shafiur. Visit the web site here. The competition will refocus attention on the problems that still remain and the difficulties of building an inclusive society.

We were in wintry Paris for three days -  running around and filming some very interesting art and artists. From Les Lilas to Montbrieux to Vitry-sur-Seine we were welcomed like old friends and allowed to film and photograph to our hearts’ content. I will post up some snippets of interviews from Blek le Rat, Christian Guemy and Dale Grimshaw very shortly. The Brick Lane project, which is still without a title (!), aims to look at art, protest and social consciousness. These three individuals gave fascinating interviews concerning those issues. We also filmed Anwar Hossain, cinematographer and photographer, at his home preparing to depart from Paris and more… Thanks to Constance Cardon of the  Ile-de-France Film Commission for all the last minute assistance she rendered.

(pic by Dorota. Found..on the streets).

Swapnabhumi, which won 2nd prize in Kathmandu at Film South Asia ‘09,  is part of the Travelling Film South Asia programme.

Here is the press release:

We are glad to announce the Travelling Film South Asia 2010 – TFSA’10 Dhaka with 12 Outstanding Documentaries from Southasia. These films have been selected from the 35 films screened in the competitive section of Film South Asia ’09, the seventh edition of the festival of Southasian documentaries held in Kathmandu from 17-20 October 2009. The selection has been carried out in consultation with FSA ’09’s three-member jury, chaired by Chennai-based cultural critic Sadanand Menon.

There is a Facebook group here.