Short films on Water - a film screening depicting adverse consequences of climate change will be showcased at the British Council premises on Saturday. The short films were produced under the project ‘Bangladesh Cymru Climate Stories’ by Dhaka DocLab and Wales One World Film Festival from the United Kingdom with support from the British Council. The films explore the experience of coastal communities and river dwellers against the backdrop of climate breakdown. The four films are- Doprujhiri by Asma Bethee and Latika by Samsul Islam Shopoon from Bangladesh; Our Home, the Sea by Mared Rees and She Sells Shellfish by Lily Tiger Tonkin from Wales, UK. Planning Minister M. A. Mannan will be joining the event as the chief guest that will begin at 5pm. Dr.Farhina Ahmed, Secretary to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and Tom Miscioscia, Country Director, British Council Bangladesh will be present as special guests. The screening is open for all and be followed by a conversation with the directors, producers , and characters of the four documentaries along with a question-and-answer session, said a media release on Wednesday. The film screening event is a part of the British Council's observation of the World Environment Day on 5 June, which encourages awareness and action for the protection of the environment. The Bangladesh-Cymru Climate Stories film project was created in collaboration between Dhaka DocLab and Wales One World Film Festival. Four filmmakers received financial and technical support from Dhaka DocLab and Wales One World Film Festival to complete their short films, which focus on climate change stories connected to women to create awareness among people. The project is funded by the British Council’s International Collaboration Programme, which was introduced to support cultural partnerships in the UK and overseas and inspire independent artists to continue creative pursuits. So far, 94 projects from 41 countries have been completed with grant support from the British Council.  

Bangladeshi short documentary film ‘Dream Run’ has been nominated for the Joel Sotolongo Micro Film Award at The 2022 Treasure Coast International Film, Music, & Art Festival in Florida. The film has been directed by Mohammed Tawhidul Ahsan, who worked with many foreign filmmakers before making his directorial debut. Team 'Dream Run' also includes Ashraf Uddin Ahmed Joy as director of photography, Joao Ramos as the editor and Meghna Agnihotri as the producer. Read: Roni Bhowmik’s New Short Film ‘Chakrakar’ released by Vivo The film is based on the lost rickshaw art of Bangladesh. The film portrays the history and struggles of the artists who paint and decorate rickshaws. Prior to 'Dream Run', Ahsan worked in the short film ‘Human’ directed by Yann Arthus-Bertrand. The film premiered at the United Nations General Assembly Hall in New York in 2014. In 2018, Ahsan worked in a television movie, titled ‘Uncivil Servant’, directed by Dawn Natalia, which won the Florida Film Gem Award at the Treasure Coast Film Festival in 2020. Read “Moviegoers and media friends helped save Star Cineplex’s original branch” Ahsan has also worked as an artistic director and 360-degree filming director for the Virtual Reality Implementation project of the prestigious Bangabandhu Military Museum. Bangladeshi documentary movie 'Dream Run' is scheduled to be screened at Regal Cinema 14, Jensen Beach, Florida, US, on Friday.

The leading smartphone brand vivo recently announced the launch of its latest X series smartphone, the vivo X80 which is a culmination of design, technology and innovation. Through this X series device, vivo presented “Chakrakar” a Short Film featuring Afsana Mimi, Yash Rohan and Nova Firoze which earned huge success. The film was shot entirely on the vivo X80, showcasing X80’s Imaging Capabilities on display aiming to provide professional filmmakers and photographers the opportunity to test the image quality of the new X80. Read Capture the beauty of Night with vivo X80 Taking the success into account, vivo proudly announces its Visual Creator Short Film contest in the country, according to a media statement. The competition aims to unearth hidden talents in the world of cinematography through this challenge. The competition will take place from 15th June until 24th October in Bangladesh. Users are requested to upload their videos to social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter) with the hashtag #vivoVisualCreator #shotonX80Series and mark @vivo official account in their posts. The contestants would also need to email the video to [email protected] with the name, social media account/email address, county/region and some personal remarks about the background of the video created. Read: Vivo announces special Eid offers for consumers A total of 12 awards will be awarded to the contestants, including 5 Global Awards and 7 Regional Awards, for which the winners will be announced on 11 th November. The award-winning contestants will receive a certificate of the 2022 edition of the contest, one vivo X80 smartphone, professional comments from 5 judges, a vivo official promotion, $3000 for each regional award and $7000 for each global award as the prize reward from vivo for their excellent performance. “It has been a wonderful experience collaborating with vivo for this project, and the capabilities of the vivo X80 smartphone have left me captivated, said Roni Bhowmik, Director of Chakrakar. Read Vivo Y01 Review: Is it a worthy entry level budget phone? This contest is vivo's way of promoting smartphone photography and videography in the country. As a brand that holds pride in its camera technology, vivo is rightfully the best host to take upon this challenge with the launch of the X80. The X80 features a 50MP Ultra-Sensing Sensor Camera, 12 MP Portrait Camera and a 12MP Wide-Angle Camera on the main panel that had made professional imaging a reality.

Roni Bhowmik directed short film ‘Chakrakar’ has recently been released by international smartphone brand Vivo Bangladesh, which has been shot on its latest flagship device Vivo X80 5G. Receiving overwhelming responses on social media, the short film has been released on Vivo Bangladesh Facebook page. Apart from its making, story, and acting; the most jaw-dropping surprise is that this short film has been made with the Vivo X80 5G smartphone, according to Vivo Bangladesh. Filmmaker Roni Bhowmik worked on this short film, as a part of vivo X80 5G campaign. ‘Chakrakar’ has been shot in different locations of Dhaka and Chattogram. The story revolves around a suburban middle-class family. It illustrates mother-son relationship, their mutual love and care and a sudden attack of Alzheimer's disease. Read: Short film 'A Happy Man' shot entirely on vivo X70 Pro 5G Popular actors  Afsana Mimi, Yash Rohan, Nova Firoz and Aryan Mohammad Dihan acted in the short film. Alongside direction  Roni Bhowmik has written the screenplay and Mohammad Towkir Islam did the cinematography.  Regarding this project, Roni Bhowmik said, “The advantage of shooting with a phone is that, since it is very easy to use, one can take multiple dynamic shots. My experience of shooting with a phone is pretty new. It is a bit challenging for people who work professionally."   "New filmmakers who want to tell stories, can resort to a smartphone for visualizing their stories. Young filmmakers can easily present their contents to the audience without bothering about large arrangements," he added.

Renowned filmmaker Vicky Zahed recently teamed up with vivo to creatively showcase the futuristic concept X70 Pro 5G has to offer. Together with vivo, he created the short film "A Happy Man," shot entirely on the X70 Pro 5G. Making the best use of various shooting techniques like pan, dolly, tilt, and zoom, it depicts the life of an ordinary man who loses his job and finds joy in the little things life has to offer. The story highlights various aspects of a man's life, including his responsibilities towards family, work, and society. Read Vivo iQOO Z6 Review: The Budget Vivo for Camera Enthusiasts Starring Khairul Basar and Rukaia Jahan Chamak, the film was broadcast on five leading television channels along with vivo's official Facebook page. Vicky encouraged young filmmakers to experiment with filmmaking techniques using capable smartphone cameras like the ones on the X70 Pro 5G as they offer more flexibility and help users discover new ideas and novel ways of shooting. The smartphone features an Ultra-Sensing Gimbal Camera, which uses a vivo-customised version of the Sony IMX766V sensor for improved low-light performance. Read Vivo redefines smartphone charging capabilities through Fast Charge Technology With the inculcation of the new and improved Gimbal Stabilisation 3.0, the camera delivers a fast, accurate focus for steady videos in dynamic motion, no matter how challenging the lighting conditions are. The gimbal stabilisation can be best used with VIS 5-Axis Ultra Stable Video in X70 Pro 5G, which supports video stabilisation with 5 axes, making video creation fun and easy. This breakthrough innovation integrates enhanced OIS with EIS to transition the X/Y-axis with Z-axis rotation for better stability. It combines the gimbal camera with an improved stabilisation angle to capture faraway subjects and stabilise frame size by cropping and shrinking (keeping the original frame size wider). Read Vivo brings Baishakhi offers ahead of Pahela Baishakh Also, the Pro Cinematic Mode of X70 Pro 5G maximises the control and adjustment of various parameters, allowing users to shoot cinematic-grade professional videos with higher controllability.

Bangladeshi animation movie Tomorrow achieved the dignity of being the best-animated film of August at the Cannes World Film Festival. Although the name of the show is very similar to the famous Cannes Film Festival of Palm D’Or, it is a completely different show. But the main purpose of the two festivals is the same - Appreciating young filmmakers in the film world based on innovation and quality. In addition to knowing about this festival, this feature aims to talk about the behind-the-scenes of Tomorrow. Tomorrow: Animated short film about climate change Ratul, a young boy, lives with his father in a beautiful house near the beach in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. Game-loving Ratul is surprised to see his father's love for nature and biodiversity. One night Ratul met an old wind man in a dream, who showed him two different forms of the future. In one future, Ratul sees the catastrophic condition of the earth due to misuse of natural resources; while the other future shows the outline of a self-reliant Bangladesh using renewable energy instead of fossil fuels. Read:Remembering Salman Shah: Best Movies of the Short-Lived Maestro The story of 'Tomorrow' advances with such a mesmerizing screenplay. Throughout the film, Ratul is portrayed as a representative of the younger generation. Through the character of the old man, the film raises concern about the environment. The adverse climate represents the consequences of human activities against nature. The short animated film with a rating of 9.4 out of 10 by 221 IMDB users has already received a lot of appreciation from movie critics. The short film promotes positivity by wonderfully focusing on building a beautiful world over the horrors of climate change. That is why American journalist and environmentalist Bill McKibben praised the movie on Twitter. Read Thoughts of Shams: Solo Content Creator Playing Multiple Characters The crew behind Tomorrow, the 3D short film This outstanding 3D movie is directed by Bangladeshi animator Mohammad Shihab Uddin. This multi-talented young movie maker played versatile roles as character designer, creative consultant, and visual developer. The movie, produced by Kazi Media Limited of Kazi Zahin Hasan and Kazi Zeeshan Hasan, was released on November 29, 2019, on Deepto TV. Cycore Studios has supervised the production and animation of the short film scripted by Ahmed Khan Hirok and Nasimul Hasan. Voice-over artists have enlivened computer-generated characters with their voices. Deepak Kumar Goswami was in the role of 'Old Wind Man' which basically is a mere reflection of the ghost of Christmas Carol. Read Tale of Hoichoi: The Bengali OTT Platform is Reaching Bengalis worldwide Eashan Abdullah gave the voice of the younger Ratul while Mohammad Morshed Siddique played the role of the elder Ratul. Raju Ahmed has given a voice-over to Ratul's father. Tom Freeman voiced the role of the foreign journalist. And Mohammad Bari gave the overall background voice. Sajib Roy, Albino George Pike, Rafiqul Islam, and Shafiqul Islam have given voice to the characters of the villagers. Tomorrow at Cannes World film festival Carolina Bomba, a visionary founder of the Cannes World Film Festival, started the program in the second lockdown of the Corona epidemic in 2020 in the French Riviera. The competitive festival covers almost all branches of entertainment. First, they select a winner every month. The winners of each month will eventually take part in the annual competition. At the end of the year, the winning films in each category will receive honorary trophies. The film will also be shown at the World’s Capital of Cinema in Cannes. Read Web Series "Boli": Chanchal Chowdhury Again in an Unprecedented Character

Here's some good news for movie buffs. The third edition of the Bangladesh Short Film and Documentary Festival will begin on June 18. Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, it will be a virtual event this year, according to Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy. Read: First-ever Bangladesh European Union Film Festival (BEUFF) kicks off online A total of 119 films -- 81 fictional and 38  documentaries -- will be shown at this year's event that will virtually run till June 25. The Academy is dedicating this year's festival to the legendary filmmaker Hiralal Sen. BSA Director General Liaquat Ali Lucky and  Director of the Academy's Theatre and Film Department, Afsana Karim Mimi, shared the details of the festival at a virtual press meet streamed on its Facebook page on June 16. State Minister for Cultural Affairs KM Khalid will virtually inaugurate the festival at 5 pm on June 18 as the chief guest. Read:Rehana Maryam Noor: The Bangladeshi Film in the prestigious list of Cannes Secretary of the Ministry of Culture Badrul Arefin, noted filmmaker Amitabh Reza Chowdhury and prominent film scholar-researcher Anupam Hayat will join the inauguration ceremony as special guests, while Mimi will deliver the welcome speech. The inauguration ceremony will be chaired by the BSA Director General. At the virtual press briefing, the organisers said that of the 400-plus films submitted, the 119 were selected by a five-member selection committee.  Read: First Bangladeshi film in Cannes' Un Certain Regard: After Matir Moyna, 'Rehana Maryam Noor' makes history Hayat, advisor to Bangladesh Documentary Council Sazzad Zahir, Secretary General of Bangladesh Short Film Forum Rakibul Hasan, film critic Sadia Khalid, and Assistant Director of BSA's Theatre and Film Department Chakladar Mostafa Al Masoud are the members of the committee. A five-member jury will select the best films of the festival. The jurors are Bangladesh Documentary Council President Faridur Rahman, Bangladesh Short Film Forum President Zahidur Rahman Anjan, filmmaker Amitabh Reza Chowdhury, actress Mimi and eminent filmmaker Syed Salahuddin Zaki.  Seven separate awards will be conferred on the recipients, based on each of the two categories (fictional films and documentaries). Read: Female filmmakers of Bangladesh have made their mark in the industry The festival will also feature three masterclasses from June 21st to June 23rd at 6 pm. These masterclasses will be conducted by Amitabh Reza Chowdhury, Shabnam Ferdousi and Lawrence Apu Rozario.  BSA organised this exclusive film festival in 2016 and 2018 across all the 64 districts of Bangladesh. 

The Cinemaking International Film Festival 2020 is scheduled to begin from Dec 24 maintaining all safety measures amid the coronavirus pandemic.