From Surma is a short film which is the student project of the ECO Film Lab: International Film Residency (2023) held in Bangladesh. It is also a project of the International Acaademy of Film and Media committed to conducting worshops and courses for students interested in working on alternative subjects like the environment.
The film, within its very short span of 12 minutes, narrates an interesting story of how Nature can hit back at us after tolerating its abuse and misuse over time by humans who live off the very same Nature. The protagonist of the film is the river Surma, in Bangladesh, a very imaginative subject as it is.
When the film begins, we find two men on a two-wheeler riding beside the river Surma. One of them is carrying a huge package looking for a village called Shahpur to deliver the package to one Ripon, a poor man who lives in this small village where the courier service never comes.
So, the two men in the two-wheeler carrying a big carton for Ripon are followed by the children when they disembark from their two-wheeler as they need to walk to where Ripon lives. Villagers too, gather around them till they reach Ripon’s home to deliver the package. But Ripon never ordered anything so he says he does not know what is inside.
The package however, carries his name and his mobile number removing doubts about the person who the package is addressed to. His wife tells him to open it. By then, lots of villagers have come to see what is in the package joined by the village elder who carries his ‘power’ with him.
When the large opened and upturned, all that came out were rubbish and plastic waste and some more packed in a torn kits bag which Ripon and his wife discover was a wedding present for them and they had cast it in the waters of the Surma River. “The river has returned to you all the rubbish you threw in it, pointing out silently that it is giving back to you – dirt and rubbish and plastic waster – all that you had thrown into it,” says a villager.
The village head throws his weight about and is about to walk away when the courier men tell him that another similar package will be delivered to him soon. This alerts the rest of the villagers who have similarly dirtied the river waters with their waste and they are scared of what awaits them. The film closes on this note of fear and uncertainty reminding all of
us that we need to treat Nature with the respect it deserves. If we do not, like Ripon and the other villagers that they will get it back at one time or another.
The film blends comic and satire into the script and the moment when the cardboard box is upturned, everyone is surprised and amused at the same time. The visuals of the two-wheeler driving through the lush greenery on either side of the narrow road with one side framed by the waters of the Surma river are beautifully composed and cinematographed.
The actors are probably normal people picked from the village so their performances are spontaneous and natural. The curiosity of the villagers is quite high because no courier person ever visits this village. All these small things add to the mood of the film.
The Eco Film Lab, organized for the first time in Bangladesh in 2023 at the Tanguar Haor area, by the International Academy of Film and Media, served as a platform for promoting sustainable film production and environmentally friendly filmmaking techniques. As part of the Eco Film Lab's policy, the film "From Surma" was produced with minimal resources, utilizing non-professional actors, real locations, natural light, limited artistic skills, restricted locations, and overall minimalistic arrangements. And finally, it was a one-day shooting film. Indian filmmaker Mr. Sanal Kumar Shasidharan was the residency mentor.
“The first Bangladeshi short film to be showcased at the 46th Moscow International Film Festival is a historic milestone for the country's emerging filmmakers,” says Bibesh Roy, the producer of the film.
The story is by Manoj Pramanik who has also directed and promoted the film alongwith Subroto Sikdar. Roy is Executive Director, International Academy of Film and Media (IAFM) and has been involved in the film industry since 1995. He has experience in both mainstream and art-house film production sectors. He embarked on his journey in the cinema world through the Film Society Movement and subsequently began working as an industry assistant.
His portfolio includes roles as an organizer in various film festivals, film weeks, and retrospectives. Bibesh has actively participated in numerous workshops and courses offered by diverse organizations, leading to the creation of several self- funded productions. He is dedicated to the Green Filming initiative, which seeks to raise awareness about sustainable film practices.
Under this initiative, he introduced the inaugural ECO Film Lab: International Film Residency program in Bangladesh. Notably, four short films produced by the film school have received nominations for the esteemed "Eisvogel – Prize for Sustainable Film Production" in Germany. He is also Founder & Festival DirectorFounder & Festival Director Arabian Film Festival Bangladesh since 2019.