SABA
Genre
Drama
Running time
95 minutes
Year
2024
Language
Bengali
Subtitle
English and Arabic
Country
Bangladesh
Director
Maksud Hossain
Bio
Producer
Uri Singer, Arifur Rahman, Tamim Abdul Majid, Maksud Hossain, Trilora Khan, Mehazabien Chowdhury, Barkat Hossain Polash
Cast
Mehazabien Chowdhury, Rokeya Prachy, Mostafa Monwar
Scriptwriter
Trilora Khan, Maksud Hossain
Saba, 25, lives in Dhaka with her demanding mother Shirin, a paraplegic whose frustrations and rage often find a target in the daughter who cares for her. When Shirin’s worsening condition requires surgery it falls to Saba to find the money to pay for it. Securing a job at a seedy Shisha bar, Saba befriends the manager Ankur and, for the first time, pictures what a life of her own could look like. Maksud Hossain’s debut feature is a close-up look at a complicated bond between mother and daughter that lurches between love and guilt, co-dependence and the longing for autonomy - but it is also a social drama, detailing the hardships that underlay the riots in Bangladesh earlier this year.
Other movies
LATE SHIFT
Director: Petra Volpe
Petra Volpe’s salute to caregivers is executed with strength and admiration. Led by a nuanced and meticulous performance from Leonie Benesch, Late Shift is an eloquent plea for compassion, as well as being a gripping story about a day in the life of a hospital worker. Floria (Benesch) is a nurse on an understaffed surgical ward, where she balances the constant demands of her patients — medical and emotional — knowing that every decision she makes (or neglects) could have fatal consequences. Floria, and Volpe’s camera, are constantly on the move to beeping monitors and crash carts in the ward’s confined quarters. As Switzerland’s Oscar submission, Late Shift delivers high drama and a sharp question: who will care for the carers?
THE FINALE
Director: Rodolphe Chedid
In a secluded Lebanese village, Amal and Naeem, married for 50 years, find their peaceful life marked by the absence of their children, who left during the war more than three decades ago. Feeling a profound void, Amal seeks to rekindle their connection and rediscover meaning by asking Naeem to write their life story. He reluctantly agrees, and they embark on an intimate journey through forgotten memories and unspoken truths. As they revisit their past, they confront the love they’ve built and the questions that have shaped their lives. Filmed with a unique and original cinematic language, this love story is a powerful testament to how film can beautifully convey emotions, memories and the intimate details that make life extraordinary.
ALL THAT'S LEFT OF YOU
Director: Cherien Dabis
This compelling family drama traces three generations of Palestinians from 1948-2022, revealing the profound impacts of the Nakba. The story begins in 1988 with Noor, a man who joins a protest that turns violent in the West Bank. Decades later his mother, Hanan, recounts her son’s story, starting with the 1948 expulsion of his grandfather from Jaffa. Amid the hardship, the family holds on to the hope of returning to their ancestral home. A love story between Hanan and her husband Salim serves as a beacon of light. Through intimate, moving performances, this film explores how trauma and heritage shape the bonds between a grandfather, a father and son, while filled with moments of joy, love and humor.
LOST LAND
Director: Akio Fujimoto
In this quietly powerful, first-ever Rohingya-language feature, Japanese filmmaker Akio Fujimoto offers a haunting, intimate portrait of two siblings fleeing persecution in Myanmar. With nothing but vague directions and each other, nine-year-old Somira and her younger brother Shafi begin a harrowing journey to join an uncle in Malaysia, crossing borders by sea and land and navigating a world shaped by smugglers, fear and exploitation. With a cast of non-professional actors, most of whom lived refugee experiences, the film blends realism with lyrical restraint. Eschewing melodrama for quiet observation, Fujimoto captures the disorientation of displacement and the uncertainty of fragile hopes. Lost Land is a timely, deeply human reflection on survival, resilience and the Rohingya’s eternal search for a place to call home.