Join us for a special screening of The Ice Cream Sellers (2021, 75 min), a story of the Rohingya people. The film invites the audience to become a part of the journey of two young siblings Ayas (10) and Asia (8) across the refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, just as the director himself was invited and received intimate access into their journey of life. The director takes the audience around the incredibly hot, dusty camp that stretches as far as the eye can see.
The film portrays a story of tragedy and loss, courage and suffering in the attempt by the two siblings to earn enough money to bribe officials for the release of their father from prison in Myanmar. The Ice Cream Sellers is a timely, relevant and significant film, especially as it gives an insightful context to the Rohingya refugee community and their lives in Bangladesh, five years on from the onslaught of violence they experienced in August 2017.
The screening will include a discussion with the director, Sohel Rahman.
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DATE: Monday, April 24, 2023
TIME: 5 pm Berkeley | Calculate your local time
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ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Sohel Rahman is an award-winning filmmaker, writer, and producer based in Lisbon, Portugal. His films have been screened internationally in various film festivals and universities around the world. Sohel received the best feature documentary film award from South Asian Film Festival of Montreal, Canada in 2021, and from Tasveer South Asian film Festival, Seattle in 2021 for his film The Ice Cream Sellers (2021). He also received the best film award from Lusofona University, Lisbon in 2015 for his film A Passagem (2014). In the same year, he won the Special Jury Award at the Encontros International Cinema de Vienna Film Festival in Portugal.
Born in Chittagong, Bangladesh, Sohel’s love of visual art, literature, and storytelling drew him to filmmaking early in life. Sohel teaches film in different universities and institutes in Portugal and Bangladesh as an invited filmmaker. He is the director and chief organizer of Mostra de Cinema sul Asiatico, Lisbon, Portugal.
Event is FREE and OPEN to the public.
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Established in 2013 with a generous gift from the Subir & Malini Chowdhury Foundation, The Subir & Malini Chowdhury Center for Bangladesh Studies at UC Berkeley champions the study of Bangladesh’s cultures, peoples and history. The first of its kind in the US, the Center’s mission is to create an innovative model combining research, scholarships, the promotion of art and culture, and the building of ties between institutions in Bangladesh and the University of California.
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