We are pleased to introduce the progress report of “Let there be Light” by Mr. KM Taj-Biul Hasan, who won the special prize of JAPAN PRIZE 2013. He is a producer of educational TV programs and documentaries on education and human development issues in Bangladesh.
2014.4.16
It was really a strange feeling for me being a director /producer of the film.
Firstly, our shooting place was nearly 180 kilometers from the capital city of Dhaka. Our production team consisting of six members started the journey in the very early morning on March 12, 2014. After six hours of bus journey, when our team reached the house of Ms. Shima Rani, the main character of my film, our team was followed by a lot of people. This makes her Family afraid. That’s why initially her parents were not interested in filming of their girl. Because they thought, it may be harmful for that young girl to continue her education in future. But when we convinced her parents, what we want to do with this film, then they expended all sorts of cooperation to us. Ms.Shima Rani is a very shy young girl. At the beginning, she was not easy in front of Camera, but after a few while she adjusted herself with the circumstances. She told us about her struggle to education. Some stories of Shima is really too emotional to us. Where so called ‘Caste Discrimination” is still one of the major barrier for human development. First two days, we shot the whole living atmosphere of Shima Rani and some of her daily activities as well as took some interviews of her parents.
2014.7.24
It was the last phase shooting of my production “ Let there be Light”. It was mainly the flashback sequences of Ms. Shima Rani’s childhood memories. This sequence may be the touchiest part of the film. Our team tried their level best to build this section according to the description of the Ms. Shima Rani, what sorts of struggles she had faced during her childhood. Her social status, environment and economic conditions were fully against her education. But her devotion to education at last brought her success. Beside these, we took interviews of “Dalit’ peoples, those who are still facing the bad impact of caste discrimination in the society. They expressed their feeling about Shima Rani’s success. We also took an interview of a social & human right activist about their movement against the caste discrimination.