Writer · Director · Producer · Educator

Stories that move people, and move the world.

Arifur Rahman is a globally engaged filmmaker from Bangladesh, crafting cinema that explores human relationships, society and the natural world — from festival features to social-impact documentaries.

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The Filmmaker

Cinema as a tool for connection and change.

Based in Dhaka and working across borders, Arifur builds films that travel — from the canals of coastal Bangladesh to the world's leading festivals. His work as a producer and director spans fiction and documentary, always in pursuit of one thing: a story worth telling well.

A graduate of the producing program at the Busan Asian Film School, he has shepherded internationally acclaimed films to Venice, Rotterdam, Busan and beyond, while directing documentaries that have reached the United Nations climate stage and global broadcast audiences.

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Portrait of filmmaker Arifur Rahman
25+Films Produced & Directed
40+International Festivals
15+Awards & Honours
1Academy Awards Entry
Featured Work

A House Named Shahana

Trailer — embed video here
Co-Producer · UK–Bangladesh · 2023

Bangladesh's official entry to the Academy Awards, 2025.

A quietly powerful drama that earned the Gender Sensitivity Award at the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival and the Audience Award at Karawan Fest in Rome — a film about the spaces women are told they cannot occupy, and the ones they claim anyway.

Selected Filmography

Recent & Notable

A cross-section of features, shorts and documentaries — produced and directed.

A House Named Shahana poster
Co-Producer

A House Named Shahana

2023 · Feature
The Silent Echo poster
Producer

The Silent Echo

2021 · Short
An Apple Tree Inside the Head poster
Producer

An Apple Tree Inside the Head

2024 · Feature
Kingdom of Clay Subjects poster
Producer

Kingdom of Clay Subjects

2016 · Feature
Roqaia poster
Producer

Roqaia

2019 · Short
Moving Bangladesh poster
Producer · In Development

Moving Bangladesh

Upcoming · Feature
Documentary reel — embed here
As a Director

Real stories, told with urgency.

From Beyond the Waves, following Bangladesh's first female surfer, to In Search of Karam, screened at the UN Climate Change Conference COP24, Arifur's documentaries put human lives at the centre of the biggest questions of our time.

One in 36 Million took the Grand Prix at the WHO Health for All Film Festival — proof that a well-told story can reach anyone, anywhere.

Watch the Documentaries
Let's Collaborate

Have a story that needs a producer?

Co-productions, development labs, festival strategy, or a documentary that matters — start a conversation.

Get in Touch