A nine-day online Miniature Art Project DOOB (Immersion) will begin on Thursday.

Young Bangladeshi artist Azizee Fawmi Khan is the initiator of this project which is her very first attempt at art curation. The virtual art project will be showcased on social media platforms from June 25 to July 3.

Azizee said Doob is an independent and multidisciplinary online based 'Miniature' art project intended to showcasing nine emerging young artists' works from Bangladesh.

“At its core, Doob proposes to its collaborators to examine their understanding of this now somewhat immersed world, nature, biodiversity at the time of this pandemic," the artist said.

She said the first interaction of Doob started at the beginning of June around the time to celebrate World Environment Day, which started as a discussion among a few artists over social media.

In this project, some artists directly address social and environmental issues while others find optimism in nature and simplicity of life. One tends to swim even deeper into one’s psyche to analyse the different states of being, she added.

Azizee said since usual gallery based art practice is no more an option at this moment, all the artists have been working from home. So, Miniature was chosen as the project's art form to overcome the limitation of space.

“The purpose of this project is to hold on to these perceptions, raise awareness about nature and all the important things in life. So that we breathe in a better, brighter and harmonious world, since we are about to resurface again,” the initiator said.

The collaborating artists are – Sara Hossain, Antora Mehrukh Azad, Anannya Mehpar Azad, Nusrat Jahan Titly, Arzina Ahasan, Sarah Jabin, Shipra Rani Biswas, Taniya Rahman Roshney and Shaily Shrabonti.

To visit the exhibition online, Event link on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/events/746611002757443/ while the page link on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/doob.immersion/) and To follow on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/doob_immersion.
 

A three-day long online film festival ‘Antorjal’ will begin at Sylhet Agriculture University from Wednesday.

Earlier, Agriculture University Chalachitra Sangsad, organizers of the event, collected short films until May 31, among them 12 selected short films will be exhibited in the festival.

Film director Shamim Akhtar and Moktadir Ibne Salam will be judges at the festival, said Iftekhar Ahmed, president of Chalachitra Sangsad of Sylhet Agriculture University.

The viewers will be able to enjoy the short films at their official Facebook page https://facebook.com/saufsofficial and youtube channel http://youtube.com/saufsofficial 

South Asia’s first virtual film festival, the "8th Liberation DocFest Bangladesh-2020" concluded on Saturday having drawn a great response from film lovers at home and abroad by providing a breathing space for all amid the coronavirus pandemic. 

The five-day-long festival, organised annually by the Liberation War Museum, wrapped up with a concluding and award-giving ceremony via Zoom.

The closing ceremony was attended in virtual space by legendary thespian and former Cultural Affairs Minister Asaduzzaman Noor MP, Ministry of Liberation War Affairs Secretary Aminul Islam Khan, President of International Theatre Institute (ITI) and noted theatre personality Ramendu Majumdar, cultural personality and Chairman of Dhaka DocLab Nasiruddin Yusuf Bacchu, media partner United News of Bangladesh’s Director Nahar Khan, festival director Tareq Ahmed and Liberation War Museum Trustee Mofidul Hoque, very much the driving force behind the organization, along with participating filmmakers, jury board members and the organizers.

"The 8th Liberation DocFest-2020 has generated a new idea on how to consolidate our strength in this unfortunate time of the ongoing global pandemic. This was a tremendous festival organised by the Liberation War Museum with its main focus on our Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as 'Bangabandhu: the Liberator' and other great leaders - and I believe when the crisis ends in future, we will meet again and celebrate new ideas and films," Noor said commenting on the festival.

Secretary to the Liberation War Affairs Ministry Aminul Islam Khan appreciated the participants and the organizers from home and abroad, saying,  "Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman said "Nothing can stop us from doing good things" - and throughout the festival, this was proven by all the enthusiastic filmmakers-viewers and organizers.” 

He said it was a pleasure to see a huge number of young and energetic minds take part in this year’s DocFest showing great enthusiasm for the history of Bangladesh.

Speakers and organisers expressed their heartiest gratitude to the festival’s organizing partner Cosmos Foundation and media partner United News of Bangladesh (UNB) for their support in both the arrangement and operation of this year's festival.  

Nahar Khan, Director of UNB and Vice President of Cosmos Group said, "It was truly a wonderful opportunity for UNB and Cosmos Foundation to provide support as the Media and Technology Partner respectively, and work in collaboration with the Liberation War Museum for the first of its kind virtual DocFest in South Asia." 

Festival Director Tareq Ahmed said that a total of 1800 films were submitted in the 8th DocFest till late March and 200 were selected from the list till last April. And finally a total of 83 films were screened throughout the five-day festival. 

Concluding the ceremony and the 8th edition of the Liberation DocFest-2020, Trustee of Liberation war Museum Mofidul Hoque thanked all participating filmmakers who came with the determination to overcome the challenge of life through bringing hope in the darkness.

"Filmmakers from more than 50 countries joined in this first-ever virtually hosted film festival in South Asia - which is a very significant achievement for us all. In this unprecedented and unthinkable time of the ongoing global pandemic of COVID-19, the festival became an international example that will carry forward the solidarity of the world," he said.

Thanking the Cosmos Foundation and UNB, Hoque said Cosmos Foundation and UNB always come forward to support the Liberation War Museum and because of their tremendous support, the festival became an international standard festival of documentary films.

Hoque also mentioned that the festival was part of the birth centenary celebrations of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and next year it will be celebrating the 50 years anniversary of Bangladesh's Independence.        

Award recipients:

Noted Bangladeshi filmmaker Aka Reza Galib, Jury Member of the National Competition announced ‘Khunti (Road to Roots)’, a Bangladesh/India joint collaboration as the winner in the ‘National Competition’ category. The director of the film, Md Zahirul Hassan,  will receive Tk One Lakh, a crest and a certificate.

Kim Young Woo (Programmer and Chair at the DMZ DOCS festival, South Korea), Jury Member of the International Competition announced ‘Highways of Life’, a film from India by director Amar Maibam as the winner in the ‘International Competition’ section. Amar will receive 1,000 USD, a crest and a certificate.

Apart from these two major awards, two Youth Jury Awards were announced in the ceremony.  ‘True False & A Revolution’ by Farid Ahmad won the Youth Jury Award in the ‘National Competition’ and ‘BUTTERFLIES IN BERLIN - Diary of a Soul split in two’ by Italian filmmaker Monica Manganelli won as part of the ‘International Competition’ section.

Nepalese filmmaker Subina Shrestha announced ‘GALENA’ by Ezzatollah Parvazeh of Iran as the Special Mention in the ‘International Competition’ category.

Friday marks the fourth day of South Asia’s first online documentary film festival, the 8th Liberation DocFest Bangladesh-2020 - being celebrated with 21 extraordinary documented tales on the reels that are being showcased on the festival website.

Continuing the excellence in short films, the fourth day projected the highest number of extraordinary short films in the fest as well.

Bangladeshi short-film ‘Flying Child’ by director Fazle Rabbi is being showcased at the ‘National Competition’ category. Slovenian short-film 'A Long Journey for the First Steps' by Jasmina Mustafić and Ratko Stojiljković is being projected as part of the ‘International Competition’ section.

Other short films are being projected in the ‘Cinema of the World’ category - including ‘Life in Gray’ by Brasilian filmmaker Leonardo Martinelli, ‘Mayday’ by Miguel Gaspar from Portugal, ‘Spread The Wings’ by Alice McDowell from Ireland, Pakistani film ‘Life in a Grave’ by Shayhaq Baloch, Iran’s entry ‘Qarlavaj’ by Ehsan Kamali and ‘Outside The Comfort Zone’ from the United Kingdom by British filmmaker duo Nataša Cordeaux and Cheyenne Ritfeld.

The only tri-nation project in Friday’s schedule is the film ‘Oro Blanco’ by Gisela Carbajal Rodríguez. The jointly collaborated film is representing Germany, Argentina and Mexico in the ‘International Competition’ category.

Two films are being showcased as part of the ‘Special Package’ category - much anticipated ‘Rahman, the Father of Bengal’ - a joint collaboration of Bangladesh and Japan by filmmaker Nagisa Oshima, based on the life of Bangladesh’s Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman - and ‘Tales from our Childhood’ by Indian filmmaker Mukul Haloi.

‘Long Period of Persecution’ by Bangladeshi filmmaker Proshoon Rahmaan, ‘Boundaries’ by Yuliya Shatun from Belarussia, ‘Controlled Breaths of Air’ by Efemia Fard from Bulgaria, ‘Laundry’ by Ali Feizi from Iran, Priya Thuvassery’s Indian entry ‘Coral Woman’, ‘Sheep Hero’ by Ton van Zantvoort from Netherlands, Indian director Vishal Gupta’s film ‘That's Uncle Jerry at the Crossing’, ‘I love you Greece’ by duo Farid Lakkimi and Dorothée Landelle from France, ‘Blue Breath’ by Rodrigo Areias from Portugal and Bangladeshi documentary film ‘Rising Silence’ by director Leesa Gazi - these are the other full-length films being showcased as part of the stacked category of ‘Cinema of the World’.

Also read: Day 3 of Liberation DocFest-2020: Excellence in Storytelling

Viewers can enjoy these films till Saturday midnight by registering at www.liberationdocfestbd.org (http://ldfbd.liberationdocfestbd.org/signup). Details are also available at the festival’s official Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Liberationdocfestbd/.

A total of 70 films are being screened during this documentary film festival
that will continue until June 20. Cosmos Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Bangladeshi conglomerate Cosmos Group, has associated with this year’s festival as the Technology Partner while the media partner is United News of Bangladesh (UNB), South Asia’s first fully wired digital news agency.

Also read: Liberation DocFest: Enthralling tales from home and beyond

After successfully projecting stories around the world on the first two days, South Asia’s first online documentary film festival - the 8th Liberation DocFest Bangladesh-2020 - continued projecting enriched documentary films with excellence in storytelling on Thursday.

Alongside a great bunch of extraordinary full-length documentary films, there are multiple short films being shown on the third day.

‘Awakening of the Goddess' is a unique short film from India by Debjani Mukherjee. ‘Lo sono Rosa Parks’ (I am Rosa Parks) is another short film, by Italian filmmaker Alessandro Garilli.

'Ruthan’ directed by South African filmmaker Abul Ajak, 'Selfie' directed by Spanish filmmaker Nayra Sanz Fuentes and Iranian doc-filmmaker Zhivar Farajzadehs film 'Serok' is also participating with above-mentioned short-films under the ‘Cinema of the world’ category.

‘Highways of Life’, a film from India by director Amar Maibam is being projected at the festival's ‘International Competition/Special Package’ section.

‘Khunti (Road to Roots)’ is a Bangladesh/India joint collaboration film, directed by Md Zahirul Hassan. The film is being projected as part of the ‘National Competition’ category.

As part of the stacked ‘Cinema of the world’ section, multiple noteworthy films are currently being projected at the official website of the festival.

Indian filmmakers are having great participation in this particular category. Anupama Srinivasan’s film ‘Are You Going to School Today?’ and ‘Bloody Phanek’ by filmmaker Sonia Nepram are being projected in this section.

As part of the joint-productions, filmmakers Thomas Grand and Moussa Diop from Senegal are presenting their film 'Golden Fish, African Fish’, along with ‘Undocumented Unafraid' which is a joint documentary production from the United States and Mexico by filmmaker Arturo Pulido are also being projected as part of the ‘Cinema of the world’.

Portuguese filmmaker Claudio Carbone is presenting his doc-film 'Hasta que muera el sol’, while Lebanese filmmaker Sarah Kaskas is participating with her cinema titled 'Underdown'.

Among other films, 'Transformation' is from Belarus by Roman Romanov; ‘Congo Calling’ is from Germany by filmmaker Stephan Hilpert and 'We are soldiers' is a Ukrainian doc-film by Svitlana Smirnova, are also being projected at the festival in the same category.

Viewers can enjoy these films till Friday midnight by registering at www.liberationdocfestbd.org  (http://ldfbd.liberationdocfestbd.org/signup)

Details are also available at the festival’s official Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Liberationdocfestbd/.