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If you don’t take risks, you will never achieve your dreams

A film by JOHNNY SHAHID

The inspiring journey of an immigrant striving for a life of abundance

Selim endangers his family’s lives. To make amends, he must undertake a perilous journey to America, risking everything in pursuit of an extraordinary life.

landscape bangladesh golden film
mysterious tree light golden film web
young woman in flower field (1)
asian manlooking mirrorbath (2)
scenic sunset silhoutte island water reflection web
statue of liberty
new york rush hour traffic
salim in nyc cab at night
asian man cooking restaurant golden film
indian workers napping next to chinese passengers
woman with baby
new york winter snow scene

Synopsis

Selim Ahmed, a risk-taker, faces devastation when a disaster destroys his farm before a profitable harvest. With dreams slipping away and a looming bank loan deadline, he seizes a chance to pursue the American Dream. Despite challenges, he thrives in New York’s Halal food cart business to give his family an abundant life, only to confront an old enemy and legal troubles, threatening his hard-earned success and possible imprisonment.

Mission Statement

Immigration is one of the most relevant issues in the world. The United States of America is a country  built by immigrants. “Golden” explores into the diverse experiences of immigrants in America, highlighting their sacrifices, dreams, and resilience. By following SELIM’s journey and others from around the world, we aim to portray the emotional spectrum of immigration—funny, sad, shocking, and inspiring—touching the hearts of audiences through a unique and entertaining narrative.

astoria park

Johnny Shahid

Writer/Director/Producer

Johnny Shahid, born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, moved to Los Angeles as a teenager. He discovered his passion for photography in the 11th grade at Santa Monica High School. After high school, Johnny formed a band, serving as the lead vocalist and guitarist. In his second year at Santa Monica College, he joined the Filmmakers Club and directed his first short film, a black-and-white silent piece on super 8mm, followed by two moreshorts. After college, Johnny worked at Hearst Entertainment, contributing to ten TV feature films. He produced an award-winning short film called “StereoTypes,” which garnered accolades at the First Run Film Festival, Houston World Festival, and the Directors Guild of America. Johnny has directed commercials for both U.S. and Bangladeshi markets and directed a play by Sam Shepard. Besides “Golden”, Johnny has also written a political thriller genre screenplay titled “Thin Line”, as well as a Bangladeshi based a period love-story screenplay titled “Mahalchari”.

Artist's Vision

Golden is about an immigrant’s journey from Bangladesh to America. The story goes through a contrast of two polar opposite worlds, Northern Bangladesh and The United States. One has a lifestyle of calmness, family, and culture. And the other is a machine dog-eat-dog world. The audience will feel the turbulence within minutes into the film. The story starts with the scenic cinematic locations of Northern Bangladesh and ends up at the metropolitan world of New York City. The film will be in non-linear sequentially. Some hints will be given throughout the film for the audience to gather clues and put it altogether at the end as to discover the main character Selim’s journey. And this abrupt journey through the contrast of these two worlds will not only be visually intriguing but the turn of events will entertain the audience where they will root for Selim to prevail.

Director's Statement

There are many Bangladeshi- Americans living in the United States who have come to America with nothing and by working hard, staying dedicated and tenacious, and keeping perseverance they’ve gained tremendous successes in America. Sadly, we’ve mostly seen in films where South-Asians are portrayed as either taxi drivers or clerks at 7-Eleven/convenient stores. It is time to tell the story of the successful talents of Bangladeshi Americans and other South Asians who are the true American Dreams, and do so in sophisticated, artistic and entertaining ways.

Business Opportunity

The timing couldn’t be more effective than now to show the world that an ambitious man from Bangladesh can come to America and achieve the American Dream. The headlines of the industry trade magazines confirm the buzz for the 2020 Best Picture Oscar, “Parasite”, winning four Oscars. “Parasite” is a foreign language film. And in 2019 it was “Roma”, a period foreign film in Spanish, based on the story about a middle-class family’s maid in Mexico City in the early 1970’s. This is the year to ride that wave of success with a film in more than one language. In “Golden” in English and Bengali.

"Better to perish striving than to live cowardly"

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