"The element of water stands for the journey of the heroines who combine faith with unity," said Jamal. Swaraj, which dealt with a social issue, like his other films, won three awards in the Dhaka Film Festival (Best Film, Critic Award, and Best Director Award). This film has travelled to 39 film festivals besides this, to places like Sao Paulo, Rio, Bombay Calcutta, other major Commonwealth cities, Stockholm, Cairo, Venice and Cannes. Jamal has won six international awards, apart from India's Best Feature Film Award.

Dwelling on the Bangladesh entries in the Dhaka International Film Festival, Jamal said, "I'm exposed to films by Tareque Masud, Tanvir Mokammel and Saidul Anam Tutul. I've enjoyed Bangladeshi documentaries too. At times I've seen the films overseas, when they are entered in the international film competitions, and I've been on the board. I personally feel there has to be a movement for the kind of film that is needed here, to take up questions with the type of governments that we have in South East Asia. There is democracy, but the funds for cultural activities like filmmaking is very limited. Whether in Nepal, Sri Lanka or India, culture has not always been the priority issue. I feel that films should not be a part of Information and Broadcasting or External Affairs ministries.

"The good alternative films can emerge in South East Asia, and the subcontinent, in particular, if there is sufficient government backing. The film industry is in the hands of a few people, who dictate the terms and conditions, as in India, he added. Bollywood cinema, he said, remained copies of Hollywood films or variations of it, while Dhallywood, in turn, copies Bollywood."

However, he said, this allegation does not apply to art films, as these films were about art, and art was all about truth." The moving messages that are coming through the films may be limited but they are powerful," he said," as in Tareque Masud's Matir Moina. Similarly, efforts by Tanvir Mokammel, and Morshedul Islam are also remarkable."

Asked to comment on European films, Jamal said, "When we talk of German literature, films and Expressionism, the concept has changed, as when we consider films like Downfall, an Oscar submission from Germany --which dealt with the conflicts between the Left and Right dealing with Hitler's last 30 days. People in Estonia who have survived World War II say that Hitler was better than Stalin, while I have to judge a film at an unbiased international level, and this is not easy. For me a film is not just about a particular place or people. It should cross all cultural barriers."