6. Surja Dighal Bari (1979)

Alternative title: The Ominous House/House By The Sun

Language: Bengali

Directors: Shaik Niamat Ali & Masihuddin Shaker

One of the milestones of Bangladeshi film, the film was one of the first few to be made entirely on a grant from the government. It was also notable for the debut of the co directors Shaik Niamat Ali and Masihuddin Shaker who are engineers by qualification. The film deals with the exploitative use of superstitions in rural Bangladesh. A widow and her children build a house on the far side of a village. The village landlord has a covetous eye on the property and also a lustful one on the widow. He tries to evict the family from the house on the grounds that it is haunted. The widow and her children fight the village for their right to live in the house. The film was much appreciated at the Locarno Film Festival.