It is with great pleasure mixed with great sadness that we are here today to announce the upcoming Dhaka release of Tareque Masud's last film “Runway”, February 10th to 21st at the National Public Library. Great pleasure of course because it is a long-awaited moment for us, over one year having passed since the premiere show of the film in October 2010. Great sadness, because Tareque himself cannot be here with us today to share this moment.
Tareque was always a trailblazer in whatever he did, and the release of “Runway” was no different. From the outset, he decided to adopt a radically different approach to releasing the film, bypassing mainstream commercial distribution channels and taking the film himself to the far reaches of the country. The capital Dhaka was to be the last stop in Runway's journey. His reasoning was that with the demise of the cinema hall network throughout the country, the only effective way to reach audiences was through parallel distribution, and priority should be given to the cinema-deprived audiences outside the capital city. And so he became the “cinema feriwallah”, taking Runway first to Chittagong on Dec. 16th, 2010, then on to Sylhet, Khulna, Rajsahi, Kushtia, Mymensingh, Sirajganj, Narail, and Faridpur among other places. Then, after August 13th, as Tareque would have wanted, Runway's journey continued onwards, to Manikganj, Jessore, Rajbari, Bhanga, Netrakona, Barisal, Rangpur, Dinajpur, Comilla…
And so at last we come to Dhaka, later than we would have planned, and with a different mood as well. Now it is not just the release of Runway that we bring to Dhaka, but along with it a special tribute to Tareque Masud and his creative partner, cinematographer Mishuk Munier, who died with him on that fateful day. Therefore we have included in our screening programme the last three works they made together: along with “Runway”, also the short fiction “Naroshundor”, and the 2-minute “Ekush”, on International Mother Language Day.
In some way it is appropriate that this release programme takes place in the month of February: as we remember the martyrs of Ekushey, we can also remember these martyrs of cinema, Tareque, Mishuk and their other three production team members, Mustafiz, Wasim, and Jamal. May they all rest in peace, and may their dreams of better cinema, and a better world, live on forever.
Release details: February 10th-21st, 2012
Venue: Public Library Auditorium
Showtimes: 3 shows daily 3pm, 5pm and 7pm.
Only Feb. 21st: 5 shows at 11am, 1pm, 3pm, 5pm and 7pm.
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