Char … The No-Man’s Island
Back| Year of participation | 2013 |
| Program | Documentary Competition |
| Producer(s) | Sourav Sarangi |
| Director(s) | Sourav Sarangi |
| Script | Sourav Sarangi |
| Director of Photography | Sourav Sarangi |
| Sound | Sourav Sarangi, Shinichiro Ogata, Kyohei Taguchi |
| Edit | Sourav Sarangi |
| Cast | Rubel Mondal, Sofikul Sheikh |
| Production company(-ies) | Son et Lumière Abhishek, 2nd Floor 8/1 Nibedita Sarani Garfa, Kolkata 700078 West Bengal India +91 33 2418 4139 |
Synopsis
Meet Rubel, a fourteen-year-old boy smuggling rice from India to Bangladesh. He has to cross the river Ganga that acts as the international border. The same river eroded his home in mainland India when he was just four. Years later a fragile island called Char formed within the large river. With his family and a herd of homeless people, Rubel decided to settle in this barren expanse controlled by the border police from the two countries. Rubel dreams of going to his old school in India but reality forces him to smuggle goods to Bangladesh. After a scorching summer, dark monsoon clouds roll in and the river swells up again. We see the edges of the island cracking. “Char may disappear someday but we won’t”, smiles the boy.
Awards
Golden Kapok Award (Best Direction), GZ DOC IFF, China, 2012; Best Documentary Award, ChopShots IFF, Indonesia, 2012; Special Mention, Dubai IFF, UAE, 2012; Rajat Kamal (Silver Lotus) National Film Award, India, 2012; Special Festival Mention - Jury, Bhopal IFF, India, 2013; Golden Reel Award (Best Documentary), Tiburon IFF, USA, 2013
Design