Archive

Independent Researcher and Strategist

2020 – Present // IshtiaqueZico.com

Writing, research, and editorial design across grassroots organizations, humanitarian contexts, pedagogy, accessibility, critical theory, and knowledge systems. During COVID-19, I developed pitch decks for startup founders by turning scattered ideas, product claims, and fundraising aspirations into clearer narrative structure and information architecture. I am now building this practice-research website as a public repository for writing, tools, unlearning notes, and semantic web experiments.

Unlearned: Corporate growth metrics and SDG vocabulary often share the same pattern: dense language turns power into abstraction. Translating that language taught me that simplification is not cosmetic. It is a baseline condition for cognitive accessibility, inclusion, and honest work.

Founder / Head of Strategy

2011 – 2020 // Biralpakhi Studio Ltd

A strategic communications agency. Produced research-driven publications and campaigns aligned with national development goals. The work was commissioned, complex, and often government-facing.

Unlearned: How institutional narrative control operates. I witnessed firsthand how development narratives commodify marginalized identities to serve donor agendas, sparking my critique of performative inclusion.

Head of Experience

2016 – 2019 // Biralpakhi Club

An interdisciplinary learning platform for independent media practitioners. Organized 17 cross-disciplinary dialogue events and 9 study circles. We deliberately capped the community at under 50 members to preserve the quality of exchange.

Unlearned: The pressure to scale. I realized that unmonetized, unstructured spaces yield the highest critical engagement. Depth of exchange matters far more than metric-driven visibility.

Head of Training and Production

2016 – 2017 // Redorange Media and Communications

Mentored youth from ethnic minority communities through the Publiq Television initiative. Produced Meyeder Shera School, a 13-episode reality TV series on menstrual health management.

Unlearned: The neo-colonial savior complex in development interventions. I learned to recognize how local realities are often filtered and flattened through imported Western norms of social impact.

Head of Department, Film and Television

2014 – 2016 // Pathshala South Asian Media Institute

Directed academic operations and redesigned the film curriculum for over 100 learners. Moved away from conventional, technical-heavy syllabi imported from the West, experimenting instead with critical inquiry and localized pedagogy.

Unlearned: That education is a top-down transmission of knowledge. I learned it functions best as an equitable exchange. Institutional resistance to this model revealed how deeply colonial legacies dictate modern academia.

Executive Producer

2013 // Khona Talkies

Executive Producer for the independent feature film Under Construction, directed by Rubaiyat Hossain. Managed production logistics, funding strategies, and cross-cultural collaborations.

Unlearned: The politics of “Global South” filmmaking. I observed how local narratives are frequently expected to perform specific socio-political tropes to secure European funding and festival recognition.

Associate Producer

2008 – 2010 // Era Motion Pictures

Managed production logistics for international collaborations, including a six-month post-production experience at Prasad Film Lab in Mumbai for a feature film.

Unlearned: The harsh realities of industry hierarchies. The film’s subsequent unofficial ban taught me how socio-political censorship attempts to erase challenging, non-nationalistic narratives.

Screenwriter / Film Director

2009 – 2010 // 720 Degrees

Directed a single-take short film on 35mm exploring relationships and perception. The first Bangladeshi film officially selected at the Venice International Film Festival, as an Orizzonti Award nominee.

Unlearned: The festival circuit functions as a neo-colonial art market. External validation inflated my self-image, paralyzed my voice, and taught me the danger of prioritizing the global gaze over authentic practice.

Team Leader

2008 // Rupantor Cinema Project Team

Led year-long film workshops for underserved learners, introducing peer-to-peer training on micro-budget digital filmmaking in Bangladesh.

Unlearned: The myth that formal film schools are the only valid entry point. Peer-to-peer learning effectively bypasses institutional and economic gatekeeping.

Country Coordinator

2006 – 2007 // Future Shorts Bangladesh

Organized local screenings of international short films to develop an opinionated, critical audience in academic institutions.

Unlearned: The illusion of neutral access. Curation is inherently political; deciding what gets shown dictates whose stories a culture is conditioned to value.

Freelance Journalist

2003 – 2004 // Bengal Foundation

Published articles simplifying technology topics, cyber security, and FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) for print readers.

Unlearned: Jargon is a tool of exclusion. Translating complex technical concepts into plain language is an act of democratizing knowledge.

Product Developer

2002 – 2003 // Bangla Innovation through Open Source (BIOS)

Developed open-source EdTech products and advocated for open-source software localization in Bangladesh.

Unlearned: Technology is not neutral. Language localization is a necessary ethical practice against linguistic feudalism and systemic erasure.

Web Developer

2001 – 2002 // BDCOM Online Ltd.

Managed in-house web projects and led a small team of coders and designers for a national ISP and ICT service provider.

Unlearned: Early exposure to the web’s initial promise of openness. This contrast fuels my current critique of today’s algorithmic, closed-ecosystem internet.