Bangladesh’s Dhaka Film Festival
Dhaka Film Festival 16th Edition January 12–20th
The 16th Dhaka International Film Festival (DIFF) will be held in Dhaka from 12 to 20 January 2018. The general theme of the festival is “Better Film, Better Audience, Better Society.”The Festival has been organized on a regular basis by Rainbow Film Society, which has been dedicated to the promotion of a healthy cine culture in Bangladesh and in celebrating the global mainstream in film and its social relevance since 1977.
Rainbow Film Society is one of the most active film entities in the film society movement of Bangladesh. Apart from holding regular film shows and film related seminars and workshops, Rainbow also brings out “The Celluloid”, one of the leading cinema periodicals from Bangladesh with an international audience.
The DIFF is one of the most prestigious film events in Bangladesh and, to a great extent, has helped shape an increasingly healthy and positive national film culture. DIFF is a bold expression of resistance against the decadence, vulgarity and cheap commercialism that pervades the mainstream Bangladesh film industry. The festival has also created space for young and aspiring filmmakers in Bangladesh and larger South Asia to connect with global artistic trends and to strengthen the parallel development of Bangladeshi cinema.
In the short span of twenty four years, DIFF has attained international recognition with fifteen festivals held in 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2017 respectively. We are confident that like the earlier events the festival would succeed in creating awareness among all concerned about the need for making and viewing good films.
Necessary preparatory work in this regard is already underway. During the 16th DIFF, organizers expect to screen about170 films, with participation from around 60 countries. The festival will have a competition section for “Asian cinema”, “Retrospective”, “Cinema of the World”,”Children’s Film“, ”Women Filmmakers“, “Short and Independent Films Section” and “Spiritual Films Section”.
Just like the previous years, Rainbow Film Society is expecting numbers of woman filmmakers, actors and personalities from all over the world for attending our very important segment- “Fourth Dhaka International Conference on Women in Cinema 2018” which will be organized in association with the Department of Women and Gender Studies, University of Dhaka. This conference will be held at the Gallery of the Alliance Francaise de Dhakaon Saturday 13 January and Sunday 14 January, 2018 during the festival.
This will also serve the purpose of a platform that will address issues concerning women through the work being done by the invited panel of women guests. Given that women compose half of humanity and the inherent importance and relevance of women’s issues in global progress; it is high time that such a conference is convened in a country like Bangladesh, more so as the world is going through enormous changes on all fronts having both positive and negative implications for women. Having said this, I would also mention that this conference will serve as the heart of our upcoming festival.
So start your rescheduling now if you are interested to join. We welcome you and want you to attend this two daylong ‘Fourth Dhaka International Conference on Women in Cinema 2018’ as it carries a very authentic purpose and will enhance many minds morally.
Conference Coordinator
Ishrat Khan Barsha is the Assistant Professor at the Department of Women & Gender Studies, University of Dhaka. She obtained her Masters Degree from the same Department in 2008 from the University of Dhaka and later in 2012 she acquired yet another Masters Degree on Women & Gender Studies from the University of Hull, England with the prestigious Erasmus Mundus GEMMA scholarship.
Asian Competition Section:
Fictional films from Asia with a minimum length of 70 minutes are eligible for entry in this portion. An international jury board will adjudicate the Asian competition section. The award will include a crest, certificate for the best film and also taka one lac (1200USD)only.
The international jury committee will also select one Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Script and Best Cinematographer.These awards will consist of a crest and certificate.
Retrospective:
One of the very important segments of this festival is the Retrospective segment. The coming year, we are looking forward to organizethis prestigious segment from an Asian and European film maker.
Cinema of the World:
(Open for all feature film categories). One film will be selected for an Audience Award by the general viewers. The award will be in the form of a certificate and a crest.
Children’s Film:
Several films will be included. These screenings are ideal family outings and will be open to all children and adults. One film will be selected by audience vote for the Best Juvenile Film Audience Award. The award will be in the form of a certificate and a crest.
Short and Independent Film:
DIFF will screen films by independent filmmakers experimenting with a variety of filming formats. The widely available, relatively low-cost formats of DVCAM, VCD, DVD and mini DVs have allowed many more artists to venture into film production. This portion of the Festival will showcase short and independent films as well as documentary from around the world. One documentary and one fiction film will be selected by the international Juries appointed by the Festival. Prizes will be awarded to the directors of the winning films. The award will be in the form of a certificate and a crest.
Women Filmmakers:
A selection of full-length feature films as well as short length and documentary films by female filmmakers will be screened at this year’s DIFF. An independent jury of female filmmakers, cultural experts, artists, and professionals will be appointed by the Festival Committee to judge this portion of the competition. One documentary and one fiction award will be made for the Women Filmmakers Category. The award will be in the form of a certificate and a crest.
Spiritual Films Section:
This section is being introduced to promote public discourse on the place of faith and spirituality in the human context. The idea is for viewers to distinguish between elements of identity in spirituality as opposed to the abuse of faith in fundamentalism. The showcasing of films on spirituality would promote greater cross-cultural understanding and tolerance and facilitate dialogues within communities as between communities.One documentary and one fiction film will be selected by the international juries appointed by the Festival. Prizes will be awarded to the directors of the winning films. The award will be in the form of a certificate and a crest.
LOCARNO PAST
In collaboration with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Locarno Film Festival’s Open Doors invited Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar and Nepal to showcase their films. Also invited in the Open Doors three year discovery program aimed at assisting directors and producers from countries in the South and the East where independent filmmaking is vulnerable, were the other South Asian countries Afghanistan, Maldives, Pakistan, Sri Lanka. Open Doors is committed to enabling filmmakers from these countries to find coproduction partners for their new projects.
The Open Doors section consists of three parallel activities:Open Doors Hub
The winner of the eight feature-length projects selected to take part in the Open Doors Hub receives a production grant worth 30,000 Swiss Francs (US $30,400). And also of the ARTE International Open Doors Prize worth Euros 6,000 (US $6,600).
And the winner was the Bagladesh film “Day After Tomorrow” directed by Kamar Ahmad Simon. It was also featured as the Red Carpet film on the Grande Piazza, Locarno’s 6,000 seat open air theater.
“Day After Tomorrow” is about a 200+ kilometer long river voyage, crossing valleys and rivers, between the bustling capital to the remote coastal villages of Bangladesh… framing a sweatshop mother waiting for her son with a new toy, a man and his wife returning after loosing a big city battle, a cleric traveling back home with radicalized ideas, a politician on his way back to his constituency just before the election… “Day After Tomorrow” is a critical and realistic portrayal of the silent masses of Bangladesh.
Kamar Ahmad Simon says, “In my childhood, military interventions were the force behind the changes in state-power. In my adolescence, I witnessed elections held with great festivities followed by a cycle of unprecedented corruption, giving birth to a nouveau riche and sustaining the opportunist elites. Yet the ‘silent majority’ never lost hope… in the contrary, politics remains the favorite topic in every tea-stall, democracy has its own meaning for each and almost everyone hopes for a new dawn tomorrow!
Working for my drafts for my ‘Water-Trilogy’ (“Are You Listening!” 2012, “Day After Tomorrow”, 2018 and “Till the Last Drop?”, 2022)… I have been traveling on rivers for years now! Cruising through Bangladesh, a densely populated Muslim-majority nation-state in one of the most fertile deltas of the world, I am developing a greater understanding of my rivers! I believe, I can hear them whispering. I believe rivers have the greatest stories to tell!”
This is the second installment of a “water-trilogy” that started with non-conventional docu “Are You Listening!,” which won the Grand Prix at the Cinema du Réel Festival in Paris. The director travelled more than 200 kilometers by waterways to shoot it, while also making a metaphorical journey through the mainly Muslim population of Bangladesh, on the eve of an election.
For all the Festival and Open Doors winners, go to Locarno Film Festival’s website.
The other Bangladesh projects included the debut feature of Ishtiaque Zico, “Cinema, City and Cats” about three characters whose lives intersect as they struggle to adapt to power structures in contemporary Dhaka: an Indian Bengali who is a Hindu film teacher; a cinema projectionist who wants to upgrade to the digital era; and a Bihari boy raised in the Geneva camp, a slum district for paperless Pakistanis in Dhaka, the Bangladesh capital. It concerns his favorite themes of undefined relationships, the hierarchy of latent power, migrants and urban living.
“Cats” is in development and is to be produced by Fran Borgia and Jeremy Chua at Singapore’s Akanga Film Asia, which backed Boo Junfeng’s “Apprentice”. Read about “Apprentice” here.
Zico’s short, ”720 degrees,” in Locarno’s 2016 Open Doors Screenings retrospective program, was the first Bangladeshi film presented at Venice, in 2010.
“One common aspect is an amazing energy seen in the new generation of South Asian talents, and the determination to show a different image of their country to what we usually see on TV news/reports,” said Sophie Bourdon, Curator of Open Doors. “They hope to show that there are talents that can make “‘good, artistic films’ as they say, that can travel and seduce international audiences.”
All the project teams are introduced to European and other international professionals with potential for coproduction, international funding and distribution. Read about all eight features in Open Doors Hub here.
Open Doors Lab
A small group of eight promising professionals has been invited to a personalized five day program of individual consultancy meetings, plenary sessions, group discussions and networking opportunities with Industry and Festival guests. The objective is not only to support the filmmakers during the development process of a specific project but also to help them improve their professional skills and better understand the international business practices and market specificities. Of the eight invitees, three were from Bangladesh:
- Abu Shahed Emon, Batayan Productions, Bangladesh
- Aadnan Imtiaz Ahmed, Kino-Eye Films, Bangladesh
- Rubaiyat Hossain, Khona Talkies, Bangladesh
Abu Shahed Emon received his bachelors degree in psychology from Dhaka University and pursued higher studies in filmmaking in film schools in Australia and South Korea. He directed several award winning short films before making his debut Feature “Jalal’s Story” which travelled to more than 20 international film festivals including Busan, Goa, Montreal World, Kerala, Fajr and Mannheim-Heidelberg. It ran into local theaters for 11 weeks upon its theatrical release in Bangladesh and became the Bangladeshi entry for the 88th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. Abu Shahed Emon is also active producing several young filmmakers’ short film projects.
His three projects in development are all fiction features: “The Tale of a Policeman”, Abu Shahed Emon (Fiction, Feature, 2017), “The Beneficiaries of a Death”, Abu Shahed Emon (Fiction, Feature, 2018), “Jalebi”, Abu Shahed Emon (Fiction, Feature, 2020)
His production company, Batayan Productions, is an independent production house in Bangladesh and has produced several award-winning short films, documentaries and TV Fictions. They have also worked for some local and international companies like Channel I, NTV, British Council, DANIDA, VSO, US Department of State etc. Besides their producing works, the American Center of Dhaka has recently funded their project named Film For Freedom — A filmmaking workshop for first time filmmakers, which was coordinated and produced by Emon; more than 20 young filmmakers participated and made their first short films.
Selected Filmography of the production company include “A Homemade Love Story” by Abu Shahed Emon (Fiction, 9’, 2009), “The Colour of Water” by Tahrima Khan (Documentary, 18’, 2010)and “The Container” by Abu Shahed Emon (Fiction, 14’, 2012) Contact: shahedemon [at] gmail.com
Aadnan Imtiaz Ahmed is a young independent filmmaker and producer from Bangladesh. After studying Economics at University of Toronto, he has been involved in filmmaking since 2011. His upcoming projects as a producer include a fiction “Quiet Flows the Rupsa River”, and two documentaries “The Borderline” and “The Last River of Dhaka Basin” all to be directed by famed filmmaker Tanvir Mokammel. He is spearheading another project — a documentary on the transgendered community in Bangladesh who are still considered as an alien community amongst the general populace. He has been acting as International Secretary of Bangladesh Film Institute Alumni Association.
His production company, Kino-Eye Films, is one of the earliest and leading independent film production companies in Bangladesh. Since its inception in 1984, it has so far produced six full-length feature films and fourteen documentaries and short films. Some films produced by Kino-Eye Films have received national and international awards. It not only produces features and documentaries but is also proactive in showcasing its films through alternative networks by screening the films in different colleges, universities and educational institutions, as well as, in the rural areas of Bangladesh.
A selected filmography includes “Teardrops of Karnaphuli” by Tanvir Mokammel (Documentary, Feature, 2005), “The Promised Land” by Tanvir Mokammel (Documentary, Feature, 2007) and “The Drummer” by Tanvir Mokammel (Fiction, Feature, 2014). Contact aadnania [at] gmail.com
Rubaiyat Hossain is one of Bangladesh’s handful of female filmmakers, known for her critically acclaimed films “Under Construction” (2015) and “Meherjaan” (2011). She has completed her B.A. in Women Studies from Smith College, USA and M.A. in South Asian Studies from University of Pennsylvania. Currently she lives between Dhaka and New York making films and attending Tisch School of Arts at New York University in Cinema Studies. She is the founder of Khona Talkies, a Bangladeshi production company.
Projects in development include three fiction features:
“Miracle Workers” to be directed by Rubaiyat Hossain
“The Wrath of God” to be directed by Aung Rakhine
“Miraj” to be directed by Ashique Mostafa
Khona Talkies was established with the vision of using young Bangladeshi talent to produce films locally with foreign coproduction. Khona Talkies has produced and acquired a few award winning and internationally acclaimed as well as locally significant independent films. They seek international coproduction and distribution partnerships.
Selected filmography
“Under Construction”, Rubaiyat Hossain (Fiction, Feature, 2015)
“My Bicycle”, Aung Rakhine (Fiction, Feature, 2015)
“Poison Thorn”, Farzana Boby (Documentary, Short, 2014)
“Meherjaan”, Rubaiyat Hossain (Fiction, Feature, 2011)
“720 Degrees”, Ishtiaque Zico (Fiction, Short, 2010)
Contact: hossain.ruu [at]gmail.com
www.rubaiyat-hossain.com
Open Doors
This non-competitive section is meant for the Festival audience and presents each year a selection of films particularly representative of the cinematographic and cultural landscape of the region on which Open Doors focuses on. This year films are from four South Asian countries (Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar and Nepal)
“Shunte ki pao!” directed by Kamar Ahmad Simon
“Television” directed by Mostofa Sarwar Farooki
“Under Construction” directed by Rubaiyat Hossain
Open Doors: Shorts
“720 Degrees” directed by Ishtiaque Zico. 5' · o.v. no dialogue
“I Am Time” directed by Mahde Hasan. 10' · o.v. Bengali
“The Container” directed by Abu Shahed Emon. 15' · o.v. no dialogue
Samia Zaman, founder of the International Film Initiative of Bangladesh (IFIB) attended Locarno Film Festival with good news about cinema in Bangladesh. She has plans for Bangladesh’s search for global audiences. It’s a good time for her here in Locarno because Bangladesh is one of the South Asian countries being featured in Locarno’s Open Doors.
The International Film Initiative of Bangladesh aims to make Bangladesh more visible in the world arena through its films that are artistically driven and thematically matured. It will forge the missing links between the global film community and the talented Bangladeshi filmmakers.
Through various initiatives such as workshops, symposiums, exhibitions and meetings at home and abroad, IFIB will prepare the new generation of creative filmmakers from Bangladesh to go for bigger challenges as well as will assist the established filmmakers to present their work to the international film community in a more professional and visible way.
By reaching out to world-renowned film festivals, programmers, filmmakers, critics and national and international art, cultural and film bodies, IFIB will make Bangladesh cinema known on the global stage.
Samia feels Bangladesh is not “sold” enough; too little is known about it, and she is out to change that. For instance, the Parliament was built by Louis Kahn (See the Sundance hit “My Architect” by his son Nathaniel Kahn).
They have a 7% GDP growth rate. 49% of the population is under 25 years of age. There is a high level of literacy and female life expectancy is higher than that of India. Cricket is the national sport. Ten to 15 independent films are produced yearly, as well as a commercial film scene making more than 70 films per year. They have a film culture going long back. Filmmakers have received many awards over the years, including from the Berlinale’s World Cinema Fund this year.
I know it is “cheating” to use Wikipedia, but Samia is correct, I know very little of Bangladesh, and so I went to Wikipedia where I found, its population of 166.2 million, it is the world’s eighth-most populous country, the fifth-most populous in Asia and the third-most populous Muslim-majority country. The official Bengali language is the seventh-most spoken language in the world, which Bangladesh shares with the neighboring Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam (Barak Valley).
Although, as of today, several women occupy major political office in Bangladesh, the women of the country continue to suffer under a patriarchal social regime where violence is common. Female wage rates in the 1980s were low, typically ranging between 20 and 30% of male wage rates. Whereas in India and Pakistan women participate less in the workforce as their education increases, in Bangladesh there is an opposite trend.
Bengal has a long history of feminist activism dating back to the 19th century. Roquia Sakhawat Hussain and Faizunnessa Chowdhurani played an important role in emancipating Bengali Muslim women from the purdah in undivided Bengal and promoting girls’ education. Rokeya Sakhawat was also one of the earliest woman science fiction writer.
Several women were elected to the Bengal Legislative Assembly during the British Raj. Women have always played an important role in Bengali civil society in East Pakistan. And women has served as Prime Ministers and Opposition Leaders from 1991 till today. That’s 25 years!
The first women’s magazine Begum was published in 1948.
Female workforce participation in Bangladesh is among the highest in the Muslim world, at 59%. Women dominate blue collar jobs in the Bangladeshi garment industry. Agriculture, social services, healthcare and education are also major occupations for Bangladeshi women; while employment in white collar jobs has steadily increased.
Next year (2017) filmmakers from Bangladesh will be travelling to Cannes. IFIB is working with IEFTA, to make this happen. IEFTA, the Emerging Film Talent Association has brought Ethiopian filmmakers to Cannes for the past several years and last year worked with the UN Refugee Agency and brought several refugee filmmakers to Cannes. Central to the IEFTA mandate is connecting new and emerging filmmakers with established members of the entertainment community. It was founded by Marco Orsini and made its first foray into Cannes with the Ethiopian filmmakers in 2007.
Samia Zaman is also a filmmaker and has produced an important film with the Liberation War Museum called “Born Together” for Ekattor TV, Bangladesh’s premier news TV channel, established in 2014. In 1971 Bangladesh won its independence. The film’s director, Shabnam Ferdousi was born with twelve other babies on that day of independence in 1972.
She learned that five of these children were “war babies” meaning that they were born “bastards”, the children of “Biranganas”, women who were raped by the Pakistan army in 1971 and were ostracized by the society which so favored her own birth. In tracing these children while the War Crimes Tribunal ruled that rape is officially a weapon of war, Shabnam Ferdousi, who has made at least 19 documentaries, came face to face with colossal questions.
Bangladesh lacks a cinema infrastructure. There are only around 400 cinema theaters in Bangladesh and Bangladeshi films are not as popular as Hindi soap serials. With more international recognition, this may well change.
