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A Missing Can of Film

(Naeem Mohaiemen, 2025)

A close up of a horse with overlaid text stating "But surely it exists."

A storied “missing can of film” that could change the understanding of the Bangladesh Liberation War raises questions of how history is ultimately told.

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. (44 mins., DCP)

Screened in conjunction with the exhibition Naeem Mohaiemen: Corinthians, on view through May 24.

IMAGE CAPTION
Naeem Mohaiemen, A Missing Can of Film, 2025. Commissioned by 41st Eva Ireland International Biennial and 6th Kochi Muziris Biennale.

Program Support

SUPPORT FOR FILM PROGRAMS PROVIDED BY

Rohauer Collection Foundation

WEXNER CENTER PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BY

Greater Columbus Arts Council

The Wexner Family

Ohio Arts Council, with support from the National Endowment for the Arts

CampusParc

The Columbus Foundation

Every Page Foundation

Mellon Foundation

Axium Packaging

Nationwide Foundation

Michael and Anita Goldberg

Vorys, Sater, Seymour, and Pease, LLP

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY

Joyce Shenk

Rebecca Perry and Ben Towle

Lachelle Thigpen

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A Missing Can of Film