Saturday Afternoon(HKAFF 2019)

In July 2016, a group of militants attacked the Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka and took the lives of over 20 people. Mostofa Sarwar Farooki’s intense drama, which has been banned in Bangladesh, brings us to that deceptively quiet Saturday afternoon and inside the restaurant after the brutal terrorist takeover. With Silver Bear-winning Kazakh cinematographer Aziz Zhambakiyev (Harmony Lessons) as DP, the film is stunningly shot in a single take that focuses on the interactions between the terrorists and their captives. The sharp dialogue reveals the fundamentalist rhetoric and twisted reasoning driving religious violence and terrorism, as well as the humanity and solidarity of the hostages in the face of death.