My Bicycle


My Bicycle is a Bangladeshi indie film directed by Aung Rakhine. It is the country's first Chakma language film.
The Bangladesh Film Censor Board blocked the commercial release of the film. There were no professional actors involved in the production.
On August 8, 2024, an independent film activist group organized an open screening called #CinemaDehuntis, as part of a reformist movement urging the government to abolish censorship. This initiative is a sub-movement woven into the broader July Revolution in Bangladesh against the Awami government.

Plot

An indigenous man named Komol is fired from a job in a town and returns to his hillside native village with only a bicycle. Although his son is happy to have his father back, he has nothing to give his family except the bicycle. Komol decides to not return to the town for new jobs but tries to secure their livelihood through the cycle. He offers to ferry passengers and goods of villagers from place to place on his cycle and earn. Unfortunately, one day an accident occurs, injuring an old man. Village goons threaten Komol and declare that no one can ride on that cycle. When Komol refuses to give them extortion, they destroy his bicycle.

Cast

The film received some international recognition after its exhibition in several international film festivals, including the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, Göteborg Film Festival, and Zanzibar International Film Festival. However, it has been banned by the Bangladesh Film Censor Board from screening in Bangladesh. There has been speculation that the censor board may not have been able to evaluate a film in the Chakma language or that the Bangladesh Army may have objected to how its activities in the Chittagong Hill Tracts were depicted.