We are going to broadcast those and many more documentaries in recent future and the schedule will be provided in due course.

Swadhinota

(A Certain Liberation)

Director: Yasmine Kabir
Country: Bangladesh (2003)
Running time: 37 min. miniDV

Gurudasi Mondol gave herself up to madness in 1971, during the Liberation War of Bangladesh. Thirty years later, Gurudasi continues to roam the streets of a small-town in rural Bangladesh, in quest of all she has lost; snatching at will from strangers and breaking into spaces normally reserved for men. She is unafraid of authority and scorns it. In her madness, she has found a strategy for survival. Gurudasi has attained near legendary status. Through her indomitable presence, she has kept alive the spirit of the Liberation War.

 A Kind of Childhood

Directed by Catherine Masud and Tareque Masud

This is a film which challenges our notions of child labor. It peeks into a world where the concept of childhood as we know it has no meaning, where children support their parents, and where work is just another part of growing up.

This is Dhaka, Bangladesh. Following several children over a period of six years, A KIND OF CHILDHOOD is an attempt to focus on the realities of child labor, with real children, their struggles and dreams.

Idris is one of thousands of children who earn their living on the busy streets of Dhaka. Although he had to work from an early age to support his ailing father, he tries to hold onto his dream of an education, even while working long hours as an assistant on a public transportation vehicle. When circumstances force him to drop out of school, his desire for an education is replaced by new dreams of urban success. Eventually, the harsh realities of city life begin to close in on Idris, forcing him to reconsider his goals as he enters adulthood.

A KIND OF CHILDHOOD follows the path of Idris' life over a period of six years, documenting the complexities of balance and survival in a unique and personal story of 'childhood' experience.

My Migrant Soul
Director: Yasmine Kabir
Bangladesh, 2000, 30 min, Bangla with English subtitles
In a posthumous account in the form of audiotapes sent home to his family, Shahjahan Babu tells of his plight as a migrant worker in Malaysia. A young man who dreams of returning to Bangladesh with money to buy land for his family, Babu quickly finds out that his status had been reduced to that of a slave. His dreams dissolve into despair, ending with his mysterious death in police custody.

The Voices of Children
Directors: Catherine & Tareque Masud
Bangladesh, 1995, 30 min, Bangla with English subtitles
Children tell their own stories about their lives as laborers, chosen and otherwise. Under pressure from US trade lobbies, thousands of children were fired from Bangladesh's booming garments industry. Activists argued that these children would go to school and regain their childhood. Reality didn't always follow this script.

MY ARCHITECT
Directed by: Nathaniel Kahn.
Produced by: Susan Rose Behr & Nathaniel Kahn.
Written by: Nathaniel Kahn.
Director of Photography: Robert Richman.
Edited by: Sabine Krayenbühl.
Music by: Joseph Vitarelli.
Released by: New Yorker Films in assoc. with HBO/Cinemax Documentary Films.

Duhshomoy (A Mother's Lament)

A Mother's Lament recounts the tragedy of Shima Choudhury, a young garment factory worker picked up by the police while traveling with her boyfriend. 16-year-old Shima was allegedly ganged raped by four policemen later that night. SHe was then sent to prison for "safe custody" where she died under mysterious circumstances. Shima's case has become a landmark issue in the Bangladeshi women's struggle against institutional oppression and abuse of power. The case is now in appeal at the high court.

Rather than presenting the story as an investigative piece, the video attempts to explore the issue from the personal perspective - the sense of disempowerment and hopelessness the family undergoes as it struggles to cope with the girl's incarceration leading to her death. Interviews with the family are joined with interviews of a cross-section of people, as they voice their concerns regarding the state of human rights in Bangladesh today.

Achin Pakhi

(The Unknown Bird)

Script and Direction: Tanvir Mokammel
Camera: Anwar Hossain
Sound: Shuvabrata Halder
Editing: Mahadeb Shi
Lalon singers: Farida Parveen, Krishnadas Baul, Arundhati Choudhury, Arati Mukherjee, Prahlad Brahmachari, Nityagopal Das, Sandhyarami Das
Puppetry: Puppet Group of Nadia
Production: Kino-Eye Films, Dhaka
Country of Origin: Bangladesh, 1996
Running Time: 67 mins

The Unknown Bard then goes on to examine the beliefs and teachings of Lalon, showing some of his followers, contemporary bards, interacting with their communities, minor religious sects in Bangladesh. Bauls can be Hindus (usually followers of Vishnu) or Muslims (usually Sufis) and see an affinity between religions, so a strong emphasis is placed on overlapping elements of Hindu and Muslim religions. The film shows this Bardic tradition as having a strong component of questioning-the bards interviewed are anti-patriarchal and resist many traditional dogmas, highlighting many of the contradictions in the practice of dominant religions. The beliefs advocated in the film include the view that God is found in the human body, mystical views of human sexuality, and also elaborate arguments as to why women are stronger than men.

Credit Where Credit is Due

Directed by Ashley Bruce
Produced by Television Trust for the Environment
Series Editor: Robert Lamb
Executive Producer: Jenny Richards
Series Producer: Luke Gawin

Shilmundi is a village in southeastern Bangladesh, very nearly the poorest and certainly the most densely populated country in the world. The inhabitants of Shilmundi live on the edge of poverty, for the big banks in Bangladesh -- like so many other banks around the world -- don't lend money to the rural poor.

But the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee does. Set up to fight the overwhelming poverty of the 1970s, it's now the largest lender of micro-credit loans in the world. Three million village poor, virtually all women, take out loans of up to $300 a year, and there's a 90% repayment rate.

In the Name of Safety

Directed by Catherine and Tareque Masud
Produced by Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK) with TVE
Produced in association with the Commission of the European Communities and WITNESS

Bangladeshi prisons are home to thousands of innocent people, jailed - the authorities claim - for their own protection. The vast majority of them are women and children, many rescued by the police from drug trafficking rings. Others are simply lost children whose families the police don't bother to trace. Some of the women are victims of domestic violence and rape; others are young girls picked up by the police on suspicion. Men and women are incarcerated merely for marrying against their parent's will. All of them are helpless.

In the name of safety, Bangladeshi authorities are locking people up in blatant violation of the rights of due process enshrined in the Universal Declaration.