Entertainment Report :
Bangladeshi documentary film on 1971’s rape survivors titled Bishkanta (The Poison Thorn) has been invited to participate at the Equality Film Festival taking place from December 8 to 11 in Kiev, Ukraine.
The Festival programme includes screenings of feature and documentary films, not previously presented in Ukraine.
The Equality festival has been established as the platform where culture, creativity and social activism can meet and connect in a variety of combinations. It is an annual event in the Ukraine that can unite diverse people in their fight against prejudice and discrimination.
The Poison Thorn, directed by Farzana Boby and produced by Rubaiyat Hossain, revolves around the narratives of three rape survivors of Liberation War on 1971 of Bangladesh. Their voices have been resurrected from the agony of silence.
This film as the pain and ‘stigma’ of rape kept haunting them long after liberation, they felt that even though the war had ended, another one had begun in their personal lives. Women who fought and survived rape are still struggling to gain a respectable existence in society. They are Birangonas — war heroines — yet they have to fight everyday for social approval.
Ranjita Mandal blames patriarchy; Halima Khatun accuses the state, Rama Choudhury negates the idea of violence. They speak to break a silence after long forty three years and through their voices a new part of our history and identity comes into light.
The Poison Thorn is a production of Khona Talkies.
