CSAS South Asia Documentary Film Series and Q&A with the film director
November 17, 6 – 8 pm
Moore Hall 423 and Zoom (Meeting ID: 944 9840 6625 | Password: 890529)
Synopsis: The Ice Cream Sellers (75″) tells the story of two little siblings and the genocide survivors of the Rohingya community who fled from Myanmar into Bangladesh after a brutal genocide. While most of the Rohingya people were exhausted from the weight of their trauma, the two siblings began their new life with hard work, selling cheap ice-cream door to door in the world ́s largest refugee camp in a desperate attempt to earn enough money to bribe officials for the release of their father from prison in Myanmar. The film invites the audience to become a part of the journey of two children 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 film portrays a story of tragedy and loss, courage, and suffering. On one hand, we have parents’ harrowing tales of their flight from their homeland, and on the other, we see laughter and the irrepressible spirit of the children.
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 the 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 75” (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. Sohel is currently working on his new film, Dancing with the Sea, about the deadly works and daily lives of four Portuguese barnacles fishermen in the Atlantic Ocean.
