Private Project

The Scrap

The cargo ship MV Iqram was used during the 1971 war to supply essential goods of the Pakistani occupying forces. In October 1971, the ship was anchoring at Londanghat on the Dakatia River in Chandpur, loaded with supplies for the Pakistani invaders, awaiting release. On 30 October, a group of Bangladesh Liberation Army naval commandos detonated three limpet mines at the bottom of the MV Iqram. The ship sank under the Dakatia River.

After independence, the ship became the property of Bangladesh Shilpa Bank. It has been submerged for 37 years. During this time the ship's ownership changed several times and many attempts to rescue the ship failed. Finally, a group of traders, after 9 months of continuous efforts, was finally able to lift it up from in 2008. For the first time in 37 years, the ship came into contact with light and air, and unfortunately the real battle for its survival began at that very moment.

After being rescued in 2008, today is 2022. In these 14 years no effective measures have been taken to preserve this ship. In response to the demands of the freedom fighters and the general public, the government issued a stay order on the ship, stating that to keep the ship as it was and the government would pay compensation to the rescuers and preserve the ship. But sadly, after a long struggle of 11 years, rescuers received compensation according to the value of the scrap iron. To this day, the ship is lying half-sunken on the banks of the Shitalakshya River, like a dead body representing our decaying spirit of liberation war.

  • Masudur Rahman
    Director
    Unrecognised, Friendship Deal, Circle of Desire 22
  • Masudur Rahman
    Writer
    Unrecognised, Friendship Deal, Circle of Desire 22
  • Sadia Afrin
    Producer
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    47 minutes 41 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    October 10, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    12,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Bangladesh
  • Country of Filming:
    Bangladesh
  • Language:
    Bengali
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Masudur Rahman

Masudur Rahman- Director, Researcher and Script Writer

Masudur Rahman started his journey in performing arts in his childhood. He first performed drama on stage at his age 7, in 1992. Cherishing this continuity, he succeeded to get an academic career in filmmaking and performing arts, and joined as an instructor of Performing Arts at Asian University for Women (AUW) in 2017. Currently he is working as the Deputy Dean of Students in the same institute. Before that he worked as an Assistant Teacher of English at Gunners’ English School from 2014-2017.

He is an M.A. in English from the University of Chittagong. He received a scholarship from National Institute of Mass Communication (NIMC) on postgraduate course on Film Direction. Besides, he successfully completed a documentary film making course with an individual film production from Auroville Film Institute, India and a sound design workshop from Satyajit Roy Film and Television Institute, India. He has directed many music videos, short films, and promotional documentaries.

He is the founder and director of Film for Us. He supervised more than 400 students’ film in last 6 years. His film ‘Nothingness and Being’ has been officially selected for the competition in the Just a Minute Festival, USA. His short film, ‘A Friendship Deal’ has been selected officially for exhibition in NABIFILMEX 8 Festival, Philippines, Lift-Off Film Session, UK and in Art Gallery Film Festival, India and in 3 more international festivals.

His documentary film project ‘The Scrap’ received the Best Film Project Award in the Exposition of Young Film Talents 2022 program, organized by Liberation War Museum. The Scrap is a documentary film on a salvaged ship used by Pakistan Army in 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh.

His recently completed documentary film, ‘Unrecognized’ won the Best Film Award in the 11th Liberation Docfest 2023. It was officially selected for screening in the 21st Dhaka International Film Festival 2023 and in the 4th Screen Film Award 2023, India.

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Director Statement

When I first came to know about the MV Iqram in 2018, the only question that came to my mind was, why did this ship come up again after being under water for 37 years? It seems to me that this is basically an expression of the immense power within our liberation war. After the assassination of Bangabandhu, the history of heroism of our liberation war has been distorted in the post-seventy five years, many documents related to it have been destroyed. But the ‘liberation war’ - this event has such a power within itself, because of that power this ship has come before us again after 37 years as a witness of time. I think this ship itself is a story that I have to pick up. The struggle of the ship to be neglected or to survive in this way day after day basically represents the eradicating consciousness and historical amnesia of our liberation war in 2022. I would like to tell that story in my film.