Tareq Masud ... A Fipresci award winner

Award-winning Bangladeshi film-maker Tareq Masud died yesterday along with four other people in a road crash west of the country’s capital, Dhaka, police said.
Masud and four others, including the chief executive of Bangladesh’s private ATN television news channel, Mishuk Munier, died on the spot when the minibus carrying them collided head-on with a bus at Ghior, police said.
Masud’s US-born wife and producer, Catherine Masud, and a noted Bangladeshi painter, Dhali al Mamun, and his wife were seriously injured in the accident, local police chief Mohammed Raisuddin told AFP by telephone.
“They had come to Ghior to select a shooting spot for Masud’s next film. They had made their choice and were returning home when the accident occurred,” he said.
Ghior, a scenic district close to the Ganges river, lies around 70km (40 miles) west of
Dhaka.
Masud shot to fame after his 2002 film “Matir Moina” (The Clay Bird) won several prizes, including an International Federation of Film Critics award at the Cannes Film Festival.
The film, about events leading to the Bangladesh’s war of liberation, also won the Fipresci award for its “authentic, moving and delicate portrayal of a country struggling for its democratic rights.”
Police said Masud was believed to be around 50 years
of age.
Road accidents are common in Bangladesh and kill thousands of people each year. Shoddy highways, poorly maintained vehicles and drivers’ disregard for road safety are blamed for most fatalities.
A recent study by the Dhaka-based Accident Research Centre said that more than 12,000 people die in road accidents in Bangladesh every year, making the country’s highways among the deadliest in the world.
President Muhammed Zillur Rahman, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and opposition leader Khaleda Zia expressed shock at Masud’s death.