On Monday, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the interim government announced several grant selection committees, including renowned personalities, to ensure grants allocation process for both full-length and short-length films.
The seven newly announced committees are the Full-Length Film Grant Committee, the Short-Film Grant Committee, the Script Selection Committees for Full-Length and Short-Film Grant, the Sub-Committees for the Full-Length and Short-Film Grant, and the Film Certification Appeal Committee.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting circulated the gazette notifications issued by Deputy Secretary Md Saiful Islam on Monday, revealing the new committees.
The new 10-member Full-Length Film Grant Committee and the 8-member Short-Film Grant Committee will be chaired by Information and Broadcasting Adviser Nahid Islam, and he will be joined by the ministry's Additional Secretary (Film) as the member secretary of these two committees. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Secretary and the Managing Director of Bangladesh Film Development Corporation (BFDC) will also be the members of these two grant committees.
Other members of the Full-Length Film Grant Committee are actress Zakia Bari Mamo, actor-director and teacher at the Dhaka University Department of Theater and Performance Studies Titas Zia; filmmaker-producer Akram Khan, filmmaker Nargis Akhtar, Dhaka International Film Festival Director and President of the Rainbow Film Society Ahmed Muztaba Zamal, and Jagannath University Department of Film and Television faculty and film producer Sameer Ahmed.
Meanwhile, the other members of the Short-Film Grant Committee are North South University Assistant Professor Dr Shariful Islam Imshiat, filmmaker Syed Imran Hussain Kirmany, actor Imtiaz Barshon, and filmmaker Sharmin Doza.
The 7-member Script Selection Committee for the Full-Length Film Grant will be chaired by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Additional Secretary (Film). The Deputy Secretary (Film-2) of this ministry is the member secretary, and the other members of this committee are Dhaka University Department of Theatre and Performance Studies Associate Professor Dr Shahman Shahriar (Shahman Moishan), film critic, screenwriter and journalist Sadia Khalid Reeti, author-screenwriter Nazim Ud Daula, filmmaker Masuma Rahman Tani and the Joint Secretary (Film) of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
Meanwhile, the 7-member Short Film Script Selection Committee includes filmmaker and critic Rashidul Islam, writer and journalist Muhammad Asadullah, and filmmaker Umme Salma Usha, alongside the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Additional Secretary (Film) as the chair. The other members included the Director General of the Department of Films & Publications and Joint Secretary (Film) of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, while the Deputy Secretary (Film-2) of this ministry has been made the member secretary.
The Film Certification Appeal Committee will be chaired by the Cabinet Secretary. while the Secretary of the Ministry of Information is the convener of the committee. Jagannath University Professor Dr Shah Md Nister Jahan Kabir, Dhaka University Film and Photography Department Assistant Professor Habiba Rahman, Documentary and Film Maker Humaira Bilkis and sound editor Nahid Masud are also members, while Vice Chairman of the Bangladesh Film Certification Board has been made the member secretary of this committee.
The 2024–25 fiscal year grant allocation will be supervised by the new committees, which will work to make sure that innovative and culturally noteworthy films have the required financial support from the government.