United News of Bangladesh

The 23rd Dhaka International Film Festival (DIFF) will begin on Saturday. The festival will showcase 220 films from 75 countries with the slogan “Better Film, Better Audience, Better Society.” The flagship yearly film festival of Bangladesh, this year’s nine-day festival in six venues in Dhaka will become a rendezvous for many local and foreign filmmakers, artists, critics, and film enthusiasts, where Bangladesh will be represented through 44 films. Showcasing 252 films from 74 nations, 22nd Dhaka International Film Festival begins Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Adviser Nahid Islam will inaugurate the festival as the chief guest at the main auditorium of the Bangladesh National Museum at 4 pm on Saturday, Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Yao Wen and the Chinese Film Administration's International Director Shu Yang will join the inauguration ceremony as the special guests. Festival Committee Executive Member and Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Jalal Ahmed will preside over the opening ceremony. A press conference was arranged at Dhaka Club on Thursday where the DIFF Director Ahmed Muztaba Jamal, festival committee Chairperson Kishwar Kamal, Asian Competition Section Jury Board member actor Ilias Kanchan, festival committee Executive Member and Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Jalal Ahmed, festival committee member Journalist Rafikuzzaman, Masterclass and media in-charge Bidhan Riberu, and Conference Director of Women in Cinema Conference Sadia Khalid Reeti briefed journalists. 22nd Dhaka International Film Festival (DIFF) begins Saturday “Since 1992, the Rainbow Film Society has been organising the Dhaka International Film Festival with support from different organisations. Unfortunately, the support is decreasing day by day. To continue this acclaimed festival in the future, we need proper financial assistance from the government and elite members and corporations in society, which is the driving force behind every other successful film festival across the world,” Ahmed Muztaba Zamal said at the press conference. The festival this year will open with the Chinese science fiction comedy film ‘Moon Man,’ co-written and directed by Zhang Chiyu, and China will be the ‘Country Focus’ at this year’s festival. Popular Bangladeshi band Joler Gaan will also perform at the inauguration ceremony. Moviegoers will be welcomed at different venues of the 23rd edition of this annual film festival, including Bangladesh National Museum; Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy (BSA); Alliance Française de Dhaka (AFD), Dhanmondi; Green University of Bangladesh; and North South University in the capital. The films will be screened under the Asian Competition Section, Retrospective Section, Bangladesh Panorama, Wide Angle, Cinema of the World, Children's Film, Spiritual Films, Short and Independent Film, and Women's Film Session. Central Women's University Vice Chancellor Dr Parveen Hasan will be present as the chief guest on the opening day of the '11th International Women Filmmakers Conference' at Dhaka Club’s Samson Lounge on January 12 at 9:30 am, which will be chaired by DIFF Chairperson Kishwar Kamal. Curtain rises on 21st Dhaka International Film Festival ActionAid Bangladesh Country Director Farah Kabir and Chinese film director and writer Zhang Yudi will be special guests at the conference. Commemorating the martyrs of the July-August uprising, seven short films will be screened at this year’s DIFF on January 12, 15, 16 and 17. The venues for these screenings are the Sufia Kamal Auditorium of the National Museum, the Green University of Bangladesh Auditorium, the National Art Gallery Auditorium of the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, and the Auditorium of North South University, respectively. Apart from this, a unique painting exhibition is being organised at the La Galerie of Alliance Française de Dhaka (AFD) on January 9-17, as part of the festival. It will include works by both new and veteran artists. The two-day masterclass is going to be held for the third time at DIFF on January 17-18 this year. Chinese writer and film director Zhang Yudi, Serbian film scholar Prof. Dragen Milinkovic, Norwegian film producer and distributor Augie Hoffert, and Bangladeshi cinematographer Rashed Zaman will speak in this masterclass, to be held at the Cineplex auditorium of the National Museum. Cultural Affairs Adviser Mostafa Sarwar Farooki will be the chief guest of the 23rd DIFF’s concluding ceremony on January 19 at the National Museum.

The 20th edition of the Dhaka International Film Festival (DIFF), one of the most prestigious film events in Bangladesh, officially began in the city Saturday to showcase the creations of some of the best contemporary filmmakers – 225 films from 70 countries. Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen inaugurated the nine-day festival as the chief guest while the event was chaired by State Minister for Foreign Affairs and chief patron of the festival Md Shahriar Alam. State Minister for Cultural Affairs KM Khalid, Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka Vikram Kumar Doraiswami and festival director Ahmed Muztaba Zamal also spoke. Also raed: Doraiswami hopeful of commercial screening of Indian films in Bangladesh Dr Momen said the DIFF has created space for young and aspiring filmmakers in Bangladesh and beyond to connect with global artistic trends – contributing immensely to shaping an increasingly healthy and positive national film culture.

With 225 films from 70 countries, the Dhaka International Film Festival (DIFF) will raise its curtain Saturday. One hundred and twenty-five full-length feature films and 96 short and independent films are scheduled to enthral the moviegoers at the festival, where Bangladesh will be represented through 18 full-length feature films and 22 short and independent films. The films will be screened at the Bangladesh National Museum, Alliance Francaise de Dhaka, Star Cineplex, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, Sufia Kamal National Public Library and the academy auditorium of the foreign ministry. They will be screened under 10 categories – Asian cinema competition section, retrospective, wide angle, tribute, Bangladesh panorama, cinema of the world, children films, women filmmakers, short and independent films and spiritual films. The nine-day DIFF is going to be inaugurated at the main auditorium of the Bangladesh National Museum at 4pm. Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen will inaugurate the festival as the chief guest. State Minister for Cultural Affairs KM Khalid and Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Vikram K Doraiswami will join it as special guests. The DIFF will also feature the Eighth Dhaka International Conference on Women in Cinema 2022 at the Samson Lounge, Dhaka Club from January 16-17 and West Meets East: Screenplay Lab from January 16-19 at Alliance Francaise de Dhaka. Thursday, a press conference was arranged at Dhaka Club in the capital where the festival director Ahmed Muztaba Zamal, DIFF Chairperson Kishwar Kamal, Secretary at the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism and DIFF Executive Committee Member Md Mokammel Hossain, Dhaka Club President Khandaker Mashiuzzaman Romel, Iranian filmmaker and DIFF head programmer Zohreh Zamani, festival executive committee member Jalal Ahmed, and patron committee member journalist Shyamal Dutta briefed the journos. Rainbow Film Society has been organising the DIFF every year since 1992.  

Reflecting on the necessity of global festivals for the betterment of cultural practices, Information Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud said on Sunday that Bangladesh has earned the respect of the world through successfully arranging globally admired cultural rendezvous like Dhaka International Film Festival every year.

The 19th edition of the prestigious Dhaka International Film Festival (DIFF) concluded on Sunday with the awards ceremony where a movie from Kyrgyzstan about an old writer who believes in the redeeming power of literature, The Road to Eden, walked away with the top prize.  

The ongoing 19th edition of Dhaka International Film Festival (DIFF) is being held for the first time in a hybrid format combining  due to the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic, and LagVelki.com, country’s first online pay-per-view movie streaming platform, is streaming the movies online as the official virtual platform of this festival.

The 7th edition of Dhaka International Conference on Women in Cinema at the 19th Dhaka International Film Festival (DIFF) concluded on Monday at the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy (BSA).

Echoing the slogan "Better Film, Better Audience and Better Society", the 19th edition of the Dhaka International Film Festival (DIFF) has officially began in the capital on Saturday.

The Latin phrase, 'annus horribilis' (horrible year), aptly sums up the story of 2020, the last year of this decade.

Eminent Indian artist Anjan Dutt, who is perhaps more famous in Bangladesh as the troubadour of troubled love than a prolific filmmaker in Kolkata’s film industry, made his debut at the Dhaka International Film Festival on Saturday.