A Missing Can of Film

Zahir Raihan was a Bangladeshi writer and filmmaker, best known for his documentary film Stop Genocide (1971), made during the Bangladesh Liberation War and released after his death. Raihan disappeared at the age of 36 shortly after the war’s end. Rumors circulated that there was a missing can of film that contained footage that would have been embarrassing to leaders of the new country. Mohaiemen’s A Missing Can of Film intersperses footage from Raihan’s body of work with contemporary footage shot in the aftermath of the 2024 student uprising in Bangladesh, questioning the carriers—film canisters, dusty equipment—of disputed history.