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Photographs of a School Teacher is a short film from Bangladeshi filmmaker Mahde Hasan. With a runtime of roughly 7 minutes, it is comprised of a set of images and vignettes focused on his mother. Most of the images are from her youth, and Hasan's focuses on her demeanor as she examines them.
During the first minutes, the short establishes two things: first, that there is an "emotional distance" between Hasan and his mother, and second, that there's a sadness in her that wasn't there when she was young ("when I was young and used to take photos, then life was pleasurable... but now, I don't feel like that"). And although the reasons are never clearly established, you can feel the burden of time and regret in her.
The short takes its time to focus on her weary face and her wrinkled hands, as it moves through brief episodes of her life through these pictures; her sisters, her life in college, marriage. All showcasing a certain sadness about things that were and things that could've been. There's not much else to it, but it is a visually interesting short that carries significant emotion, and makes you feel "closer to each other".
Grade:
PHOTOGRAPHS OF A SCHOOL TEACHER
(2013, Hasan)
A film from Bangladesh
(2013, Hasan)
A film from Bangladesh
"Camera takes us closer to each other ... to the time that belongs far away. Closer to everything."
Photographs of a School Teacher is a short film from Bangladeshi filmmaker Mahde Hasan. With a runtime of roughly 7 minutes, it is comprised of a set of images and vignettes focused on his mother. Most of the images are from her youth, and Hasan's focuses on her demeanor as she examines them.
During the first minutes, the short establishes two things: first, that there is an "emotional distance" between Hasan and his mother, and second, that there's a sadness in her that wasn't there when she was young ("when I was young and used to take photos, then life was pleasurable... but now, I don't feel like that"). And although the reasons are never clearly established, you can feel the burden of time and regret in her.
The short takes its time to focus on her weary face and her wrinkled hands, as it moves through brief episodes of her life through these pictures; her sisters, her life in college, marriage. All showcasing a certain sadness about things that were and things that could've been. There's not much else to it, but it is a visually interesting short that carries significant emotion, and makes you feel "closer to each other".
Grade: