Asian Cinema Fund

ACF Asian Cinema Fund

Script Development Fund

2011 Script Development Fund

LIST The Tale of a Policeman

Category	Asian Project
Project	The Tale of a Policeman
Director	Abu Shahed EMON
Country	Bangladesh
Director's Profile	Abu Shahed Emon is a young Bangladeshi independent filmmaker. Emon graduated in psychology from the University of Dhaka, but developed an interest in filmmaking due to his active involvement in the film society movement. He made several short films, documentaries and TV fictions which have found acclaim both at home and abroad. Emon participated in the 2010 Asian Film Academy fellowship program (AFA) of the Busan International Film Festival, during which his screenplay [Joon and Wendy] was selected for production. For his excellent performance during AFA, he received the AFA Scholarship Fund last year. The fund will cover the post-production costs of his film by Technicolor–Thailand.

Synopsis: This is a psycho-political period drama about a young man, Yakub, who wants to become a policeman. We see the journey of this character at different points in his life, and we see his struggles and passion. Yakub endures a hard childhood and always dreams of becoming a policeman. But he eventually fails to get the job. He gets an opportunity to work on a film as an extra, dressed as a policeman. Against the backdrop of the 90s democratic movement, Yakub witnesses police brutality against protesters and develops his own understanding of the need for democracy. He decides to help the demonstrators while wearing his police uniform. A group of protesters attack him, assuming that he is a real police officer, and Yakub is killed. The police recover his body and proclaim him a hero who died while doing his duty. In death, Yakub at once becomes a tool of propaganda and a policeman.

Director's Note: [The Tale of a Policeman] deals with the basic human question of dream vs. reality. We see the protagonist’s desires and the will to achieve his goals. In the backdrop of this film we see the frustration with and demonstration against the military-backed government, which had shut out the true face of independence. We follow his endeavors in making his determination and dedication into a reality.
This story has a cultural resonance for the present day in depicting the profession of a policeman from a neutral angle, and it deals with a recurring motif – that a man is what he believes himself to be. It also portrays the struggle of the people in finding the true meaning of democracy, which I believe, still continues in my country as well as in many other nations across the world.

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