Mostofa Sarwar Farooki is a Bangladeshi film director, screenwriter, and film producer, widely regarded as one of the leading figures to introduce modernism and realism in Bangladeshi Cinema.
His work has been praised for bridging the gap between escapism and reality, with The Hollywood Reporter describing him as "the next South-east Asian filmmaker to break out" following the review of his film Television. Variety's Jay Weissberg also noted that Farooki is a key exemplar of the Bangladeshi new wave cinema movement.
As a pioneer of the avant-grade filmmakers' movement called "Chabial", Farooki has been instrumental in setting a new trend in terms of presentation and direction in Bangladeshi cinema.
Starting his career with educational efforts, Farooki's first two films, Bachelor (2004) and Mad_e in Bangladesh (2007),showcased his unique perspective. His third film, Third Person Singular Number (2009),premiered at the Busan International Film Festival and went on to have its European premier at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, as well as competing in the official competition at the Middle East International Film Festival in Abu Dhabi.
Throughout his body of work, Farooki explores themes such as middle-class angst, urban youth romance, deception-hypocrisy, and the frailty of the individual, as well as frustration about the confines of one's culture and conservative Muslim concepts of guilt and redemption.
