Bengal Foundation organised a special screening of independent filmmaker Molla Sagar’s four films at Bengal Shilpalay, Dhanmondi in Dhaka on Saturday.

Molla Sagar is a prominent documentary filmmaker in Bangladesh who makes films with a deep respect and empathy for the people he depicts.

The films Dudh Koyla, Siren, Gangaburi and Dadu portrayed struggle of mass people and their beliefs under the pressure of state and capitalist systems.

Dudh Koyla, a documentary film produced in 2006-2007 in Dinajpur, explores the struggles of the national minority community Santal, in Phulbari as the state seized their land for open-cast coal mining.

Siren, another documentary film, focuses on the closure of several jute mills at Khalishpur in Khulna in 2008, and the hunger and uncertainty that the workers’ families faced.

Dadu portrayed the life of Momin Ali Mridha, who works as a model at the Dhaka University faculty of fine art, and the film Gangaburi focuses on the ancient ritual of ‘Ganga Puja’, where people come to be spiritually cleansed by the river.