Leesa Gazi-directed ‘Rising Silence’ won the Best Documentary award at the just-concluded 17th Dhaka International Film Festival 2019 (DIFF). In celebration of victory, a special screening of the film for Dhaka audience will be held today at 7pm at the National Art Plaza Auditorium of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy (BSA) in Segun Bagicha of the capital.

The film was screened twice at DIFF held from January 10 to 18.   

‘Rising Silence’ film sheds light on the lives of Birangana women (war heroines) by Leesa Gazi.

‘Rising Silence’ is a journey of relationships between women dealing with war, violence, and daily prejudice to heal and create the future with unconditional love. In December 1971, East Pakistan became the independent nation of Bangladesh after a nine-month war with West Pakistan. During the Liberation War, the Pakistani army adopted the rape and torture of Bangladeshi women as a military tactic across the country and in camps built throughout Bangladesh. Over the course of nine months of conflict, the Pakistani military and their local collaborators raped and made sex slaves of an estimated 200,000-400,000 Bangladeshi women and girls. ‘Rising Silence’ tells more stories like this.