Buddhist monk Daehae receives best fiction award at Bangladesh film festival

Buddhist monk and filmmaker Daehae won the best fiction award at the Dhaka International Film Festival on Sunday for her film about human spiritual potential, marking another milestone in her prolific career spanning more than 120 works.

Buddhist monk and filmmaker Daehae, right, receives the Best Fiction Film award at the Dhaka International Film Festival on Jan. 18 during the closing ceremony of the 24th Dhaka International Film Festival in Bangladesh. [JOONGANG ILBO]

Buddhist monk and filmmaker Daehae won the best fiction award at the Dhaka International Film Festival on Sunday for her film about human spiritual potential, marking another milestone in her prolific career spanning more than 120 works.

The film, “A Vast Algorithm of Humanity,” (2025) took the Best Fiction Film award during the closing ceremony of the 24th Dhaka International Film Festival in Bangladesh. Recognized as one of South Asia’s premier film events, the festival ran from Jan. 10 to Sunday and featured approximately 200 films from nearly 60 countries.

Daehae’s film centers on the idea that human beings possess immense spiritual abilities that remain untapped. The story shows how people can start unlocking their inner potential by engaging with visible algorithms — a metaphor for intentional, structured self-development.

“Our inner selves hold immense ability, but because it has no form, we don’t see it,” Daehae said. “Even though it’s something we’ve had since birth, we don’t know how to use it. So it stays neglected.

“This film is about developing that inner capacity using what I call the ‘human super-algorithm,’ a tangible structure anyone can access.” The jury praised the film.

“We had a clear winner in this section,” said Daria Schieferstein a juror from Germany, during the awards ceremony. “The film draws us into a world of fairy tales and childhood purity, and offers a great deal of hope about the small bits of magic that can happen in life.”

Daehae has written and directed 121 films, including both short and feature films. She has won 94 awards at international film festivals.

Audience reactions have also been enthusiastic.

“She shifted the paradigm from films we watch to films we think about,” one viewer said.

Another added that “there is a spiritual depth in Daehae’s work that stays with you.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom. BY BAIK SUNG-HO [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]