Dhaka, April 25 -- Bangladeshi filmmaker Adnan Al Rajeev's short film 'ALI' has been officially selected for the prestigious Official Competition at the Festival de Cannes - marking a historic first for Bangladesh.

Announcing the news in a Facebook post on Friday, Rajeev shared his journey behind the film.

"Some journeys don't start with a script. They begin with a quiet belief - that the stories from where we come from deserve a place on the world's biggest stages," he wrote, stating that "ALI was that belief."

Last year, he attended Cannes as a producer; this year, he returns as a director, stepping into the Official Competition.

"Cinema was never meant to be a solo journey. It's beautiful chaos, a symphony of hearts beating togethe...