Ishtiaque started exploring filmmaking techniques in 2005 by producing
shorts, assisting fellow directors in different roles, watching movies,
and studying books - in no particular order.
He graduated in mathematics from Dhaka University. He participated in the Berlinale Talent Campus in 2011 as a director-producer.
His short film "720 Degrees" is the first and only
Bangladeshi entry at the Venice International Film Festival nominated
for Orizzonti Award. Also nominated at Rotterdam, Chicago, Ankara,
Oslo, Moscow and other film festivals; won the HBO Short Film Award at
SAIFF in New York, USA.
Right now, he is directing a segment of "Southeast Loves", an omnibus film
project - co-directed by four prominent Asian directors i.e., Aditya
Assarat, Vimukthi Jayasundara, Phan Dang Di and Ifa Isafansyah -- being
produced by Japan, Singapore and France, which has been selected at the
Asian Project Market 2011 at Busan International Film Festival in South
Korea.
Traveled in Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, India, Italy,
Japan, Netherlands, Singapore, and South Korea. He lives in his
hometown, Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh.