Filmmaker Noman Robin’s full-length feature film ‘Common Gender-The Film’ has been selected for the screening for the month of August as a part of the yearlong film festival titled ‘New Films, New Filmmakers’. The festival is being jointly organised by Moviyana Film Society and Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy (BSA). As many as twelve films in three categories, those have been selected from the total submissions for this month, will be screened today at the auditorium of National Art Plaza of BSA, Segun Bagicha in the city. ‘Common Gender-The Film’ and all other films will be screened at the National Art Plaza of BSA at 7:30 pm. ‘Common Gender’ is a film based on the love story of a transgender. The film portrays vividly the conventional ways transgenders earn their living as well as the illegal trade they are forced to engage themselves in, like other marginalized communities of the country. In the film, seeing Shusmita, a transgender youth, at a wedding programme, Sanjoy offers to become his friend. As they keep on spending time talking over the phone, Sanjoy once tells Shusmita that it could be much better had Shusmita been a girl. This changes something inside Shusmita, who dresses like a girl, starts to feel the presence of a woman within. Shusmita starts behaving more like a woman and falls in love with Sanjoy. When Sanjoy takes Shusmita to their home, his parents rebukes him for befriending a transgender person and insults them both. The humiliation adds to many others and forces Shusmita to commit suicide. The film casts Sohel Khan, Shazu Khadem, Dilip Chakrabarti, Chitro Lekha Guho, Doly Jahur, Kazi Raju, Tota Mia, Shahidul Alam Schchu and others. Led by noted filmmaker Syed Salauddin Zaki, a seven-member jury board selected the films among the submitted films from August 1 to 10.
The selected four short films—Broken Dreams’ directed by Kirtaniya Dip, ‘ Rajkonna’ by Hossain Turja, ‘No er Galpa’ by Ahsan Roni, ‘Loop’ by Sourav Amin and one documentary film ‘Oporajeyo Bangla’  by Saiful Owadud Helal will be screened at 3:30pm and the rest five short films—‘Nil Chasma’ directed by Faisal Mahmud, ‘The Poster’ by Asif Khan, ‘Ure Jaua Galpa’ by Akhlakuzzaman Khan, ‘Godhuli’ by Syed Maruf Hossain, ‘Mago Amra Achhi’ by Shadman Sakib Chowdhury and one documentary film ‘Phera’ by Prasun Rahman will be screened at 5pm at the same venue.