Baltic Cinema: Master মাস্টার
Dir. Rezwan Shahriar Sumit Bangladesh 2026 126’ (adv. 15)
Digital video | In Bengali with English subtitles
Screening as part of GemArts Masala Festival
Baltic Cinema: Master মাস্টার
Fri 17 July | 18:30
£6/£4.50* per person
As part of GemArts’ Masala Festival this year, Baltic Cinema presents Rezwan Shahriar Sumit’s taut, nuanced film explores ambition and the tendency of power to corrupt, in a fiction rooted in the reality of contemporary politics.
Jahir, a well-liked teacher, husband and father, finds fulfilment in his family and work – until he is elected upazila chairman of Mohoganj, a forested suburb. Initially supported by local youth, he steps into power with noble intentions, but the weight of expectations soon overwhelms him. Unable to refuse those who helped him rise, Jahir bends to mounting demands, compromising his principles.
If Master is resonant with Bangladeshi audiences following the July Revolution of 2024, its parable of how persuasion can lead to coercion – and division – is a borderless one, and not without parallels closer to home.
Winner of the main prize at International Film Festival Rotterdam this year, Master is currently without a UK distributor and screens here directly after its UK première at the UK Asian Film Festival in May: this is the only chance to catch it.
Watch the trailer here
Doors open 18:00; Film starts 18:30. Pop-up cinema bar open from 18:00 for drinks.
Please note we cannot offer refunds on this event.
*Concessions: under 18s, unwaged & 65+
Baltic Cinema
Baltic Cinema is a year-round cinema programme at Baltic, lighting up our Level 1 Cinema with the best new and archive films. Bringing otherwise rarely-screened work to the North East, Baltic Cinema also expands our exhibitions, offering a chance to explore further some of the themes they raise.
Baltic Cinema has five strands:
Currents presents new work from across the world
Sources expands on our exhibitions
Selected shows films selected by our artists and partners
Quayside Kino is a monthly screening for families and children
News From Home offers films on and from the North East, for the people who live here
All regular screenings take place in our Level 1 Cinema.
