Maksud Hossain An Oscar

Maksud Hossain – in short ‘Mak’ – won 33rd Student Academy Awards on documentary category. His non-fiction, ‘Three Beauties’ was shot with a handy cam and edited in a dorm room of Purdue University. Winning an Oscar at only 23, Mak doesn’t want it to be the peak of his career. He talked to Zia Nazmul ISLAM about Oscars and his aspirations…

In the beginning…
When I was 11, my uncle brought Oliver Stone’s ‘JFK’. After the movie, they discussed about it. It struck me; a movie is not merely about entertainment, it evokes people to think. I suppose, that was the moment I realized I wanted to express my thoughts through the lens.
…to the land of opportunity
I went to study business at Purdue University and continued making short films with my friends. On one summer vacation, I came to Bangladesh and shot a documentary called ‘Three Beauties’. Professors and lecturers of film department loved it and encouraged me to send it to Student Academy Awards. I wasn’t interested at the beginning. Then, came Spike Lee to Purdue! He began his speech saying that he won Student Academy Awards. I found that Robert Zemeckis, Bob Saget, Spike Lee, Trey Parker and John Lasseter on the list of recipients of the award. So, I sent them a copy of ‘Three Beauties’.
When scripts go berserk…
On the summer vacation of 2005, I got myself a handy cam, a laptop and a script and landed on Dhaka. My script was a neo-realist ‘Bicycle Thieves’ type fiction. Unfortunately, going to the poor locations of the city that most men were away for work during the day. There were women though. Talking to the women, I found a ‘cycle’ – not the type my script I had prepared. It was the lifecycle of the girls and women living there. So, I had to change my script; it became a non-fiction of three women. Yes! There were similarities between my original script and the new one. I shot there for almost 3 months. I took the footage to USA and used to edit at night in my room at Purdue. I completed ‘Three Beauties’ in December, 2005.
Walking thru’ the walk of fame…
I went to Los Angeles to pick up my award. I stayed for a week at a hotel beside Sunset Boulevard. I met with famous directors and cinematographers from all over the world. Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding) was the host of the event. I decided to move to LA to study film-making. There, I worked as script doctor at Weinstein Brothers and an assistant at crossroads films.
…to the land of three beauties
I grew up in UAE but used to visit Bangladesh 2/3 times a year. I always had a yearning to work and live here. In 2009, I came to Bangladesh. For the first one and half years I was a lecturer at ULAB.
Pulling hair off, underwater…
I was a regular at shooting locations of Rashed Zaman who worked as a cinematographer in one my short film in USA, ‘Status’. Rashed introduced me to Nurul Alam Atique. Rashed shot 36 hours of footage of Dub Shatar, directed by Atique. Everyone was pulling their hair off editing Dub Shathar. Rashed gave me the footage to edit. I was one of the final editors of the film.
…and now
My first fiction in Bangladesh, ‘Bahattor Ghonta’, was aired on Eid. It received good response from all. Later, I made TVCs for Navana Real Estate, Otobi, Meena Herbal, close Up… I enjoy being able tell a short story through TVC. Now, I am focused on making TV commercials.