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Bangladesh has picked writer-director Iqbal Hossain Chowdhury’s award-winning feature debut Boli (The Wrestler) as its selection to the 2025 Oscars in the best international feature film category. The movie won the 2023 Busan International Film Festival’s New Currents prize, and it was warmly received by critics at the Shanghai International Film Festival in June.
The movie follows an eccentric fisherman who resolves to beat the current local champion at Boli Khela, a traditional form of wrestling from Chattogram, Bangladesh’s second-largest city. Set in the late 1990s in a remote coastal village, the story weaves together local myths about dervishes (Sufis), mahi sawars (fish riders) and mysterious creatures believed to be angels in disguise.
Said Chowdhury in his director’s statement: “One of the most significant elements of this movie is the mystic nature of the coastal area. Unlike popular wrestling, ‘Boli Khela’ is quite slow-paced and more about technique and patience. Boli blends mysticism with popular discourses.”
The film co-stars Nasir Uddin Khan, Angel Noor and AKM Itmam and Priyam Archi (No Ground Under The Feet, last year’s Oscar submission from Bangladesh). It was produced by Piplu R. Khan.
Chowdhury is based in Toronto and received a postgraduate degree in filmmaking from Centennial College. Prior to Boli, he wrote, directed and produced three short films: Teeth (2016), Dhaka 2.00 (2017) and Rowai (2018).
Bangladesh has submitted films for the Academy Award for best international feature film since 2002, but the country has not yet been nominated.
The shortlist for the 97th Academy Awards‘ best international feature contenders will be announced Dec. 17. Nominations will be announced Jan. 17 and the winners of the 2025 Academy Awards will be unveiled Sunday, March 2.
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