The Bangladeshi film Master has earned its place at one of the world’s most prestigious film festivals. Competing against eleven other features in the Big Screen Competition at International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), it has secured the top prize. The film is the work of director Rezwan Shahriar Sumit. Sumit recently sat down with Bonik Barta’s Wahidur Rahman to discuss the film’s long road to completion, the significance of the Rotterdam award, and what comes next.
How do you interpret winning the top prize in the Big Screen Competition at IFFR, both as a personal milestone and a professional one?
My second feature, Master, recently won the Big Screen Award at the 55th International Film Festival Rotterdam. On a personal level, this is enormous. But professionally, and collectively, it belongs to the extraordinary cast and crew who were with me. That includes not only those who travelled to the Netherlands, but everyone who supported us from home — the teams in Dhanbari and Madhupur in Tangail, and even in Jamalpur where we shot. This is our team’s achievement. More broadly, I believe it represents a significant step forward for Bangladeshi cinema on the global stage.
What was your experience of the festival itself? Were there any moments that linger in the memory?
Rotterdam is a true filmmaker’s festival. It’s one of the world’s major platforms, distinguished by its commitment to seeking out new talent and amplifying fresh voices. Very few festivals operate with such a unique programming philosophy, one so dedicated to discovery. That reputation is well-earned.
The festival was full of other filmmakers trying to tell stories in unconventional ways. They all gathered from every corner of the globe. There were twelve films in our competition, the Big Screen Competition, and another twelve in the Tiger Competition.
One memorable moment was hearing directly from the festival director why Master was selected. He said the story about how the acquisition of power can fundamentally alter a person felt urgently relevant and deeply universal. Hearing that validation was an amazing moment.
Beyond that, I watched a great deal of cinema and connected with numerous directors. A particular highlight was speaking with the acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof after a screening. When he learned I was taking part in the competition as a Bangladeshi filmmaker, he was genuinely pleased. He told me, ‘This is a remarkable festival. They truly nurture a filmmaker’s vision and their unique voice. You are in exactly the right place.’ That encounter was incredibly inspiring.
You served as producer, screenwriter and director on Master. How did you navigate the challenge of juggling these distinct roles?
It’s frankly an immense challenge to shoulder all three. Initially, I searched for a producer. When the right partner didn’t materialise, I had to step into that role myself. For the screenplay, I did have a co-writer, which helped. But the directing responsibility was always mine alone.
I was constantly switching hats throughout production. When a scene became unworkable as planned, the director’s hat would come off and the producer’s hat would go on to solve the logistical or budgetary puzzle. When necessary resources proved unavailable, I’d have to take off the director’s hat again, put the screenwriter’s hat back on, and re-imagine the scene entirely. That constant multitasking was anything but easy.
What proved to be the single greatest challenge during the making of Master, and how did you overcome it?
Master is a political thriller. That genre by its nature demands a broad canvas. Although the story is rooted at the sub-district level, its scope is wide — a large cast and a complex, interwoven structure.
We brought some experienced, professional actors from Dhaka to our locations in Tangail. However, roughly seventy to seventy-five percent of our cast were non-professionals. They were local people with no prior training or acting experience. The central challenge was integrating these two groups within the same scenes. If their performances didn’t find a shared rhythm and frequency, the scenes would simply fail.
We took separate preparations for each. We conducted workshops, held extensive rehearsals and devoted significant time to character exploration with everyone. Even then, some scenes required numerous takes. Ultimately, we navigated it through patience, constant communication and a great deal of coordination.
Your next project?
Right now, I’m deep in post-production on my third feature, Tufan Aiteche (The Storm is Coming). Alongside that, I’m also developing plans for a larger-scale fiction film that I hope to begin work on later this year.