Private Project

Taken by The River

Taken by the river. The migrants of Bangladesh who have lost everything they own to climate change.
In Bangladesh, more than 7 million people have been displaced by climate change. This is the story of two brothers struggling to survive after losing their homes and livelihoods.

  • Md Ibrahim Khalilullah
    Director
  • Md Ibrahim Khalilullah
    Writer
  • Md Ibrahim Khalilullah
    Producer
  • Tanvir Mijan
    Cinematography
  • Arif Al Erfan
    Editor
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Short
  • Runtime:
    5 minutes 3 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    July 17, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    4,527 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Bangladesh
  • Country of Filming:
    Bangladesh
  • Language:
    Bengali
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • LIFE AFTER OIL International Film Festival
    Sardinia
    Italy
    June 20, 2025
    Opera Prima
    Official Selection
  • Varsity Film Expo
    Lusaka
    Zambia
    December 9, 2024
    African Premiere
    Best Documentary Film Award
Director Biography - Md Ibrahim Khalilullah

Md Ibrahim Khalilullah is an investigative journalist and documentary filmmaker from Bangladesh. He is a Nuffic Scholar supported by the Netherlands government. He was among the 10 nominees for the 2021 Thomson Foundation Young Journalist Award.

He is a member of the Oxford Climate Journalism Network, a program of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford. He is also a fellow of The Rockefeller Foundation and Internews Earth Journalism Network.

Additionally, he serves as a journalism mentor at Investigative Reporters & Editors, a partner with Journalism Mentors.

He directed and produced a documentary, “Taken by the River,” about climate migrants in Bangladesh for CNN. This documentary was created as part of the CNN Academy and the Rockefeller Foundation Climate Storytelling Program.

"Taken by the River" won in the Displacement and Migration category at the 2025 Covering Climate Now Journalism Awards, selected from over 1,200 entries submitted worldwide.

The Bangladeshi documentary film ‘Taken by the River’ has been officially selected for Italy's prestigious LIFE AFTER OIL International Film Festival 2025.

It was selected for the 15th Cambodia International Film Festival (CIFF) 2026 in the “Beautiful Planet” program.

Previously, ‘Taken by the River’ received the Best Documentary Film award at the African Film Festival ‘Varsity Film Expo 2024,’ held at the University of Zambia in December 2024.

These honors underscore the documentary's excellence in international short filmmaking.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

This is my first film on "Climate Migrants". This film is about the humanitarian conditions of climate migrants in Bangladesh. You will get a different taste of the human story of struggle here.