Tareque was involved in the film society movement from his university days and started his first film, "Adam Surat" ("The Inner Strength"), a documentary on the Bangladeshi painter SM Sultan, in 1982. His 1995 feature-length documentary on the 1971 Liberation War, "Muktir Gaan" ("Song of Freedom"), brought record audiences and became a cult classic. He also made many other films on the war, including "Muktir Kotha" ("Words of Freedom", 1999), "Narir Kotha" ("Women and War", 2000) and "Naroshundor" ("The Barbershop", 2009). In 2002, he completed his feature film "Matir Moina" ("The Clay Bird"), which was based on his childhood experience in the madrassa.