Makbul Chowdhury’s feature-length documentary, Mamun: In Praise of Shadows, won the best documentary film award at the 28th edition of the UK Asian Film Festival, currently under way at the Garden Cinema in London’s iconic Covent Garden.

The UK Asian Film Festival is one of the longest-running South Asian film festivals outside the Indian subcontinent.

This year’s theme, ‘Stories That Bind Us,’ celebrates narratives that foster connections across communities, cultures, and generations.

Based on the work of the renowned, Ekushey Padak-winning Bangladeshi portrait photographer Nasir Ali Mamun, the film’s world premiere was held in Dhaka in May 2024. For more than four decades, Nasir Ali Mamun has played a pioneering role in portrait photography in Bangladesh, having initiated the artistic practice in the country during the 1970s.

The award ceremony, which included an extended Q&A session with the director, took place on 3 May 2026 following the film’s UK premiere at the venue, according to a press release. Moderated by Anita Haram, the discussion featured Mumbai-based film producer Siddharth Jain and Ashvin Devasundaram, a reader in Global Cinema Studies at Queen Mary University of London.

The panellists described Nasir Ali Mamun’s work as an extraordinary artistic expression shaped by a unique interplay of light and shadow, capturing the deeper truths of history through the human face. They also praised the documentary as a thoughtful and artistic chronicle of Mamun’s remarkable creative journey.

Director Makbul Chowdhury spent over five years making the film. During this period, he followed Mamun’s artistic journey across various locations, including Dhaka, Kolkata, Paris, and New York, documenting his work and his relationships with prominent figures.