Words of Freedom

A family must come to grips with its culture, its faith, and the brutal political changes entering its small-town world.

This historic film, completed in 1995 by filmmaking duo Tareque Masud and Catherine Masud tells the true story of a troupe of singers traveling through the refugee camps and zones of war during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. The film blends documentary and fictional genres in a musical structure to tell the story of the birth of a nation and the ideals of secularism and tolerance on which it was founded. The filmmakers combined footage of the cultural troupe and their activities, shot by American filmmaker Lear Levin in 1971, with historic footage collected from archives around the world, to create “Muktir Gaan” (Song of Freedom).

A young man who lives nearby an airport finds himself in trouble upon meeting a mysterious stranger.

A mother and her son return to their home in Sylhet, Bangladesh after 15 years abroad and try to retrace their roots. Beginning with the death of the father of the family, the film proceeds with the central characters seeking a link to their lives.

A 40 year old painter, who lives in a wooden and bamboo house on stilts in the middle of a polluted lake on the outskirts of Dhaka City. Alpha's house serves as his painting. Dogs, roosters and birds also share the space with him. There are many moments when he feels a oneness with nature and with the birds and animals that surround him. He also feels deeply drawn to 'an androgynous' male-female identity. Alpha has neighbors in the nearby slum with whom he has close interaction.

The grim news made international headlines: On August 21, 1971, prison authorities discovered a gun on famed Soledad Brother author, activist and San Quentin inmate George Jackson. A shootout ensued, killing Jackson, two other inmates and three guards, and wounding three more officers. Authorities asserted that only lawyer Stephen Bingham could have smuggled the weapon into the prison. Fearing that a conviction for abetting the guards’ deaths would lead to his own murder, the attorney fled, beginning a long, strange odyssey of pseudonymous exile. Strange indeed for the Yale-graduate scion of politically prominent New England elites.

Set against the backdrop of the Pakistan Army crackdown during Bangladesh’s 1971 war, this political thriller follows a student activist who takes refuge from the Pakistan army in a local barbershop.

A documentary film based on a journey of late filmmaker Tareque Masud

The current struggles and future dreams of working children in Bangladesh

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.