72m; Directors: Hannan Majid, Richard York.
Set in Bangladesh, the documentary follows 20-year-old Nasir, a social worker in the slums, who moved from a rural village to the city. He reflects and recounts on his childhood working in rubbish dumps and sweatshops from the age of eight, how he grew up, and achieved his dream of an getting an education and respect within his community. A social worker, he wanders the alleyways of Dhaka‘s Korrail slum searching for working children to try to convince to enroll in school for a better future. As Nasir recounts his life, the documentary also features several children, parents and employers, who mirror his past.
As it continues its own industrial revolution, Bangladesh is, in many ways a perfect example of what we refer to as ‘a developing nation’. Mass E Bhat explores this shifting society through the eyes of its children. In the young people of the slums, villages, factories and streets, we see a generation forced to grow up at an incredibly early age, to whom work and responsibility are part of everyday life. A series of vignettes observing these children, their parents, employers and teachers, paint a vivid portrait of a nation in transition, the cost of development and the true meaning of childhood.
Hard-hitting and unforgettable, Mass-e-Baht explores the unseen impact of capitalism’s invisible hand. Framed around the inspiring life of Nasir, a child labourer turned social worker from Bangladesh, Mass-e-Bhat presents a portrait of the developing world as experienced by it’s children. Having worked under abysmal conditions in sweat shop garment factories at the age of 8, Nasir now rescues “working children” by enrolling them in school. Moving stories about the people who live in poverty to produce our clothes are presented alongside Nasir’s quest to better his life, and the lives of other child labourers. http://www.rainbowcollective.co.uk
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