Oscars: Bangladesh Selects 'The Unnamed' for Foreign-Language Category

The film examines how the country's expatriate laborers are trafficked abroad and has won honors in Italy, Kosovo and Washington's South Asian film festival.

Bangladesh has selected The Unnamed as its entry for the 89th Academy Awards' best foreign-language film race.

Entitled Oggatonama in the Bengali language, the film revolves around the dark underbelly of how Bangladeshi expatriate laborers are trafficked around the world.

Directed by Tauquir Ahmed, the cast includes Shahiduzzaman Selim, Mosharraf Karim, Nipun Akhter, Fazlur Rahman Babu and Abul Hayat.

The film has picked up some international honors during its festival run, including a jury mention at Italy's Gulf of Naples Independent Film Festival, best director and screenplay wins at Kosovo's Goddess on the Throne festival and a best director award at the South Asian festival in Washington, D.C.

Bangladesh has yet to secure an Oscar nomination, though it has been sending entries to the foreign-language category since 2002.

“I hope one day, if not us, then filmmakers from our next generation will make films that will be in the final contention for the award,” Ahmed was quoted as saying by Bangladesh's Daily Star newspaper.