The ongoing Dhaka International Film Festival features some of its recurring and acclaimed segments, and the conference again enthralled the film enthusiasts like the previous years, as part of those recurring festivities.
The two-day long international conference was held at the Dhaka Club Samson Lounge in the city which focused on major issues and possible solutions concerning women in the film industry in both national and international sphere.
Focusing the objects such as improving the standard and content of women based cinema and create interaction among the women who are involved in the medium of cinema through exchanging ideas and sharing diverse experiences, a total of six keynote papers were presented in this two-day international conference.
The first day was observed with the presentations on three keynote papers- ‘Recognition of Women Professionals: On and Off the Lens’ by Fatima Amin, faculty of film and television department, Jagannath University; ‘Hard Won Lessons’ by Hannah Fisher, international film programmer, festival director and activist from Toronto, Canada; and ‘New Trends in Feminist Films from South Asia’ by Meenakshi Shedde, journalist and award-winning film critic based in Mumbai, India.
On Sunday, the conference began with three other keynote papers - ‘Reaching Out and Linking Arms Around the World’ by Sydney Levine, trainer/ educator, writer and consultant for festival, international sales and financing strategies from Los Angeles, USA; ‘Bangladeshi Women's Contribution in the Technical Fields of Cinema’ by Chaitali Somadder, independent film-maker, editor and instructor from Dhaka, Bangladesh and ‘TahaderKotha: the Binaries between Public-Private: Depiction of Refugee Women Breadwinners in Post-Partition Bengali Cinema (1950s to 1970s)’ by DrDebjaniHalder, independent filmmaker and film research officer, Film and Television Institute of India, Pune.
The closing and declaration ceremony was presided over by the conference director Sydney Levine followed by Liberation War Museum Trustee Mofidul Hoque.
Rainbow Film Society initiated this international conference as part of the on-going 18th Dhaka International Film Festival 2020, which began in Dhaka on January 11 and will continue till January 19.