Tareque Masud

Who was Tareque Masud?

Tareque Masud was a Bangladeshi independent film director, film producer, screenwriter and lyricist. He first found success with the films Muktir Gaan and Matir Moina, for which he won three international awards, including the International Critics' FIPRESCI Prize, in the Directors' Fortnight section outside competition at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. The film became Bangladesh's first film to compete for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

He died in a road accident on 13 August 2011 while returning to Dhaka from Manikganj on the Dhaka-Aricha highway after visiting a filming location. The cinematographer Mishuk Munier, his long-time director of photography, was also killed in the accident. Masud was working on Kagojer Phool. In 2012, he received Ekushey Padak, the highest civilian award of Bangladesh posthumously. In 2013, New York University Asian/Pacific/American Institute, and South Asia Solidarity Initiative, hosted the first North American retrospective of his films.