A documentary short film ‘A pair of Sandal’ directed by the independent filmmaker Josim Ahmed has been awarded at the ‘HAK-Is Short Film Festival’ in Turkey.

Josim Ahmed received the ‘Best Director Award’ for the film on the closing day of the festival on December 20 at the Hilton Garden Inn Ankara in Turkey. The festival, organised by the culture and tourism ministry of the Turkey government, began on December 15.

Written by Farid Ahmed, the four-minute-long film portrayed the destitution of Rohingya refugees with striking images. The film was shot on an iPhone. Sound engineer Ripon Nath did the background score for the film.

The documentary delves into the Rohingya crisis faced by Bangladesh. Rohingyas were raped, tortured and killed in their homeland in Myanmar. They were been crammed on boats and squeezed between countries that do not want them. They are among the most persecuted people in the world, who arrived in Bangladesh to save their lives.

A fleeing Rohingya child showed a pair of sandals to those who did not want to see it. The film's title has been inspired by this scene. There are no voiceovers or interviews in the film.

After receiving the award, Josim Ahmed said, “Only two films from Bangladesh were submitted to the competition. That's the reason why they didn't mention the name of our country in their website separately. But among these two, ‘A Pair of Sandal’ was nominated for the award. I got the best director award. It’s a great pleasure for me. I'm proud to be a Bangladeshi. Through this docu-film, I have tried to highlight the crisis of the Rohingya refugees.”

Earlier, ‘A Pair of Sandal’ participated at the Naples Human Rights Film Festival in Italy.

This year, Josim Ahmed’s film ‘Daag’ made its debut at the Cannes Film Festival in the short film section.