A fisherman’s desperate search for fish is halted by the mournful call of a mother whale. Her grief awakens a ritual from the depths — a symphony of sea creatures in mourning. When silence returns, the fisherman survives, but nothing remains the same.
Afroza is an animation filmmaker and visual artist based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Having completed her debut short film, Song of Whales (2021-2024), she is now working on her first feature film, Song of Jhinuk, which is aimed at children aged 8 to 14. Both of the projects have earned recognition at various prestigious platforms, such as the winner of the West Meets East Screenplay Lab 2023, Metis Fund for Development, and selected participant at Climate Story Lab South Asia 2022. The screenplay of Song of Whales work was also a quarterfinalist at the Vail Film Festival Screenplay Competition, 2022, and the pilot film was exhibited nationally and internationally at prestigious events such as Ora Egaro Jon in Bangladesh, TRAUMWELT in Berlin, and Calm, Centered, Awake in Seattle, etc. She also had the honor of being selected as the representative of Bangladeshi animators and presenting her works to the Honorable President of France, Mr. Emmanuel Macron, at a cultural meetup organized by Alliance Francaise de Dhaka and Embassy of France in Bangladesh.
Before embarking on an animation filmmaker journey in 2021, Afroza spent over a decade directing and animating more than 100 projects for the development sector in Bangladesh. Her rich experience informs her art practice and passion for animation film, which is grounded in her academic background in Drawing and Painting from the Faculty of Fine Art at the University of Dhaka.
We are excited to announce that the 12-minute animated short film, “Song of Whales,” directed by Sara Afroza Hossain, is representing Bangladesh at the 27th edition of DigiCon6 Asia in Japan (organized by TBS).
Focusing on the critical issues of the environmental crisis and the challenges faced by marginalized fishers, the film recently earned a special honor by winning the Gold Medal at the DigiCon6 Bangladesh 2025 competition, making it the country’s official representative for the Asian event.
