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Longest Night of the Year

“Longest Night of the Year” is an alternative take on the traditional myth of Radha and Krishna.
This film is based on gender issue. Here we try to blend the gender out look. The center of story is the waiting story of a young lover for the polygamous goddess who comes to earth every Longest Night of the Year . Here we wanted to reverse the gendered roles by having Krishna waiting for Radha. Another thing we try to deconstruct the conventional image of the “goddess” and the “witch” in the portrayal of Radha; she is not a conformingly beautiful goddess one would expect to see. She decided to reverse the myth that has been written from the perspective of man, and undo the male gaze that has become the norm in our society.

  • Dipa Mahbuba Yasmin
    Director
  • Abdullah Al Muktadir
    Writer
  • Dipa Mahbuba Yasmin
    Producer
  • Shaon Shah & Marina Mitu
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    mythology, feminism, gender issue
  • Runtime:
    6 minutes 51 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    November 17, 2016
  • Production Budget:
    1,509 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Bangladesh
  • Country of Filming:
    Bangladesh
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Dipa Mahbuba Yasmin

Dipa Mahbuba Yasmin is a trans-disciplinary artist and a screenwriter, director, and producer whose work has been called " antagonistic", “influential”, and "courageous". She was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and educated at the University of Dhaka in Fine Art.

As a director, Dipa is known for her directorial debut The Longest Night of the Year (2016), and Planchette on 25 April (2018). She is currently running a major queer archiving documentary project called ‘Bangladesh Cross Dresser Theater Archive’. Her films are an important part of her activism, she archives historical and contemporary queer stories & struggles. Besides film making Dipa Mahbuba Yasmin is familiar as an asexual queer leader with over 10 years of experience, working with various queer organizations across cities in Bangladesh & beyond. She is the founding director of Epiphania Visuals and the founder & board of trustees of Asexual Pride Asia & (ANOAQA) - Asian Network of A-Spec Queer Activists. She is also the Co-Founder & Trustee of the Bangladeshi Asexual Association

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Director Statement

Dipa MahbubaYasmin: dreamer of that world which we forgot to live

Dipa Mahbuba Yasmin (Born 1st November 1990, Dhaka, Bangladesh) is an independent filmmaker and a multidisciplinary artist. She accepts art as an activism and has been a woman sensitive to social injustices, disproportion and lacks of human’s rights. Most of her artworks are characterized on the one hand by the theme of deconstruction, gender-blending, revisiting mythology, re-interpreting the past, present and future and on the other its political activism. Her profound commitment found to create a fairer society. As an independent filmmaker, Yasmin, along with some dream weavers, founded a production house named ‘Epiphania Visual Production’ in 2016. Using a caption, `Epiphania: the moments we forgot to live", Yasmin started the initiative that derived from a very popular literary term of 'Epiphany' which refers to the moment of sudden and great revelation or realisation.’ It works with a view to focus upon yet unexplored world of unbelievable diversity.
Dipa Mahbuba Yasmin’s debut short-film named ‘Longest Night of the Year’ (2016) is a reverse take on the traditional myth of Radha and Krishna, where she portrayed the roles by having Krishna waiting for Radha. Yasmin also challenged the myth that has been written from a masculine perspective of a man, and undo the male gaze that has become the norm in our society. The film was screened in several film festivals in and out of Bangladesh including Assam and Venice film festivals. The teaser of this film is available in online.
“Planchette on 25 April”, second ‘cine-play’ of Yasmin, is not a conventional film. It is rather one of her experimental effort. Here she did not follow any conventional way of filmmaking in this film. She portrayed the screen from an immediate stage performance based on a letter. A shocking murder occurred at Apr 25 in 2016, is the main plot of this film.
Yasmin adapted the script from a planchette, arranged at the next following year in an occasion of victim’s first death anniversary. Here, the letter was read dedicating to the deceased. This fierce and real murder story has been portrayed in this film in such an ordinary way that the audiences can see the film without any stress, but the visuals, only 5 minutes length, left a strong impression in everyone’s mind. It bounds them to think about the murder. This film is done without pre-production. So she would like to describe the film as an improvisational ‘cine-play’, not a film. After its opening screening at Britto Arts Trust at Apr 7, it was displayed in UK just a month later, at Jun 7.
Along with film, Yasmin has done an experimental music video based on a song by veteran poet Kazi Nazrul Islam (Amar Nayone Noyan Rakhi) and some others TV commercials shoots. In this music video, she has altered this popular song with a different narrative in where we will be introduced with an ordinary Bengali housewife, oppressed by her husband.
Yasmin also directed an stage production named “Iravanatyam” in which she tried to create a public awareness about the rights of inter-sex people.
Dipa Mahbuba Yasmin’s first solo exhibition ‘Pink Myth of Hell’ held in Chhaya Ghar Art Space at Santiniketan in India. It was a series of conceptual artworks using cross disciplinary art medium along with photography and drawing. It also represented the fanatics on women in our society, patriarchal culture and the misogynistic behavior of male-dominating country. She oversaw the symbols and metaphors of women used my men in literature and religion in the context of Indian sub-continent. Yasmin completed her Honors majoring Ceramics at Faculty of Fine Arts from University of Dhaka in 2012. She changed her discipline after completing graduation and done post-graduation on painting from University of Development Alternative. After the end of this course, Yasmin realized there is no end of learning, it is just the beginning which is the actual lesson for an artist.
In future, Yasmin would like to make those kind of films in which she can discuss about the ideology of sexual and religious freedom including the diversity which are still recognised as taboos in our society. Through the films, she wishes to speed up consciousness among the people to accept those as normal.