Abdullah Mohammad Saad's Web Series 'Annie' to Stream on iScreen
The highly anticipated web series 'Annie,' directed by Abdullah Mohammad Saad, is set to be released on the iScreen streaming platform. A contract was finalized between the director and iScreen representatives at the Channel i office last Wednesday. Present at the signing were Faridur Reza Sagar, Managing Director of Impress Telefilm and Channel i, along with producers Ehsanul Haque and Shihab Nurunnobi, and co-producer Tanvir Hossain. Ehsanul Haque confirmed that the release date will be announced soon.
'Annie' has garnered significant attention since its premiere in the 'Women in Series' category at Germany's Serienkamp Festival in June. Producer Ehsanul Haque expressed confidence that the series, which received praise at the festival, will be well-received by domestic audiences on iScreen, offering them a novel experience through its storytelling and presentation. Actress Nazifa Tushi, who makes her directorial debut with Saad in this series, shared her excitement about the domestic release after its international festival run. She noted that the series was shot before her film 'Roid' and described it as an experimental, favorite project that provided her with a unique experience.
The series is a dystopian drama centered on Annie, a nurse in a small town struggling to raise her five siblings. The narrative unfolds as a mysterious disease sweeps the globe, causing infected men to develop an uncontrollable hatred towards women. Amidst this 'hate pandemic,' Annie is brutally attacked by a masked assailant one night, an event that profoundly changes her life.
The release of Abdullah Mohammad Saad's dystopian web series 'Annie' on the iScreen platform signifies a growing trend of local content being made accessible to domestic audiences via over-the-top services, following international festival exposure. This strategy leverages prior critical acclaim to build anticipation and gauge audience reception within the home market. The series' thematic exploration of societal collapse, gendered violence, and individual resilience within a 'hate pandemic' context offers a potent, albeit potentially challenging, narrative for viewers. Such content, while artistically ambitious, navigates the complex landscape of public appetite for dystopian themes and the potential for these narratives to reflect or comment on contemporary societal anxieties, prompting reflection on social dynamics and systemic vulnerabilities without dictating specific conclusions.
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