Tufan Chakma’s debut animated short film, Lullaby of the Fireflies, is set to be released soon. Developed during his Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s journey in Re:Anima, the film served as the practical component of his final Master’s thesis. However, its significance extends beyond his debut as an animator. The film seeks to offer a distinctive visual interpretation of the complex historical, political, cultural, and environmental realities of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), Bangladesh; a region whose Indigenous histories and lived experiences remain underrepresented in mainstream visual narratives.

By translating these ealities into poetic, surreal moving images, Tufan explores animation as a medium for expressing what is often verlooked, silenced, or difficult to articulate through conventional forms of representation. The film marks both a milestone in his artistic journey and an attempt to expand how the CHT and its Indigenous peoples can be seen, understood, and represented through animation.