Private Project

The Border Within

Dr. Tawhid is a pediatrician in Dhaka, Bangladesh. In 2017, he visited the Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar as a volunteer medic, where he met Osman, a 14-year-old Rohingya boy. “I want to study. I want to become a doctor like you,” Osman reminded Tawhid himself as a kid. Tawhid was triggered to raise fund for Osman, and promised Osman to fight for his future.

After that, Tawhid and Osman stay in touch over the phone, and as time passes, Tawhid becomes Osman’s only portal to a better life outside the camp. At this point, Tawhid finally starts to worry about giving Osman a false dream, because he cannot be the answer to Osman’s life.

Tawhid is planning another trip to see Osman, but he must craft a sustainable plan for his independence, as this is very likely his last visit. In a world that is inevitably built on inequalities and borders, how are they going to break the boundaries?

  • Boan Wang
    Director
  • Nuruzzaman Khan
    Director
  • Elvis Kuo
    Producer
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    尋找奧斯曼
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    28 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    August 30, 2019
  • Production Budget:
    33,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Taiwan
  • Country of Filming:
    Bangladesh
  • Language:
    Bengali
  • Shooting Format:
    HD
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1.9:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Boan Wang, Nuruzzaman Khan

1. Boan Wang:
Boan Wang started making films while studying in college with a specialization in screenwriting and directing. In 2015, Boan won a full scholarship to pursue his master’s degree in documentary directing, as part of Erasmus Mundus Master Program, Docnomads. Having both fiction and non-fiction background, he intends to experiment both forms in his work. He is currently based in Taipei, Taiwan.

Past Work(s) Filmography:
2017 Home Abroad
2013 Give & Take

2. Nuruzzaman Khan:
Nuruzzaman Khan is a documentary filmmaker from Dhaka, Bangladesh. He graduated from Docnomads, a documentary directing master program take takes place in Lisbon, Budapest and Brussels, with a full scholarship from European Union’s EACEA. He worked for Rosa Production in Slovenia. Now he is doing his PhD in documentary film with the subject of migration.

Past Work(s) Filmography:
2018 Family Name: Cet
2018 My Neighbor at Salétrom utca
2017 Man with No Name
2016 Chicken Fox

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

I met Tawhid when I just moved back to Bangladesh after finishing my studies in Europe. He told me the story of Osman, and his plan to help him. As someone who had been absent from my home country for 2 years, I was urged to join Tawhid to “do something meaningful.”

However, growing up as the middle class in a country where many people are suffering from poverty, we realized this is sort of a payback for our privilege. This applies to me, Tawhid, as well as my co-director, Boan.

As the story evolves, this journey of searching for Osman becomes the journey of searching ourselves. We are faced with the grim reality, which keeps reminding us how incapable and showing how questionable our privilege is in the refugee crisis. While Osman asked to move to Dhaka with Tawhid, he had to say no to Osman for the first time. Was it selfish? Or did his selflessness made him cross the line?

We would like to invite the viewers to join us and reflect on our position in the complex reality.