The 9th Dhaka International Mobile Film Festival (DIMFF 2023), powered by Star Cineplex, is all set to take place from February 4-5 which will bring mobile filmmakers from 25 different nations, showcasing their talented creative visions. Twenty-six films have been selected from a total of 163 in five categories for this year’s festival: Open Doors, One Minute, Short Film, Vertical Film, and Mojo Story. The inauguration ceremony of this two-day festival will be held on Saturday at the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) Permanent campus on Beribadh Road, Mohammadpur in the capital, which will be joined by media personality and Grey Group Bangladesh Managing Partner and Country Head Syed Gousul Alam Shaon as the chief guest. Films will be screened at the permanent campus on Saturday and at Star Cineplex, Shimanto Shambhar, Dhanmondi in the capital on Sunday, which will be followed by the closing ceremony. On Thursday, a press conference was held at ULAB’s Research Building at Dhanmondi in the capital. Festival director Mohammad Sambitul Islam, event coordinator Ismam Rahim Karib, and public relations manager Zannatin Tazrimin Rithi were present at the press conference and shared insights about the 9th edition of the festival. Regarding the eligibility of the submitted films, the organisers informed that filmmakers around the world have submitted their mobile-shot films in the Open Doors category. The "DIMFF Best Film" award will be given to the best film in this section. The Short Film category was contested exclusively by undergraduate and graduate students from universities. The "CinemaScope Best Film" award will be given to the best movie in this category. Students in grades 1 through 12 were the participants in the One Minute category, and the best film will get the "ULAB Young Film Maker" award. At the 9th edition of the festival, the "DIMFF Best Vertical Film" and "MSJ Best Mojo" awards will be presented to the best films in these two new categories. The film submission for the 9th Dhaka International Mobile Film Festival started on April 3 last year, and the submission concluded on October 28. The jury board for selecting the best films in the Short Film, Mojo Story and One-Minute categories are filmmaker Senjuti Subarna Tushi (Jury Chair), alongside ‘Nonajoler Kabbo’-famed National Award Winning filmmaker Rezwan Shahriar Sumit and Pakistani filmmaker Ayaz Khan as Jury Members.  Along with the two jurors - French-Turkish director Berat Gokkus and Bangladeshi filmmaker Tasmiyah Afrin Mou, ‘Hawa’-famed executive producer and filmmaker Shimul Chandra Biswas will serve as the jury chair for the newly introduced Open Door and Vertical Film categories. With the tradition of focusing on a particular cultural heritage element as its festival theme, the DIMFF 2023 has chosen ‘Bioscope’ for this year’s theme. The festival will be documented by Filmism and supported by wardrobe partner Blackistic, food partner Chow-man, festival partner MINA, media partner Dhaka Post, and public relation partner Brandsmith. Star Cineplex is the title sponsor for the 9th edition of DIMFF. Chorusing the slogan “New Generation, New tools, New Communication,” Dhaka International Mobile Film Festival (DIMFF) started its journey back in 2015. Over the years, the festival has become a flagship event of the Media Studies and Journalism department of the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB). More information about the festival is available at www.dimff.net.      

Iranian filmmaker Kamal Kachooeian- directed film ‘Adapt’ bagged the ‘Best Film’ award at the 8th Dhaka International Mobile Film Festival concluded on Tuesday at Star Cineplex, Shimanto Shambhar, Dhanmondi in the capital. Turkish film ‘Scent’ by Sezgin Yuzay won the CinemaScope Best Film Award while Bangladeshi film ‘The Ghost’ by Fahim Shiyam won the ULAB Young Filmmaker Award.  A total of 153 films were submitted from 31 countries worldwide at the 8th edition of this flagship festival from the Department of Media Studies and Journalism (MSJ), University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB). Read: Best War Movies of 2021: Military Action Films Portraying Battlefields Worldwide The closing ceremony was joined by internationally acclaimed Bangladeshi filmmaker Mostofa Sarwar Farooki as the chief guest. ULAB Vice-Chancellor Professor Imran Rahman was present as the special guest. "As the current generation of filmmakers, you are far ahead of us. The beauty of shooting films using a mobile phone is that you have the same privileges as a filmmaker while sitting overseas that we did not have in our day. Among you, I see a lot of promising faces who will take over the industry in a few years with quality content," Farooki said at the event.

With the slogan "New Generation, New tools, New Communication," the 8th Dhaka International Mobile Film Festival (DIMFF) raised its curtain in the capital Saturday. This marks the return of the festival in front of live audiences after 2020, as the seventh edition was held in a hybrid format in 2021 due to Covid-19. Md Nizamul Kabir, director general of Bangladesh Film Archive, joined the inauguration ceremony of the four-day festival as the chief guest and Sara Afreen, jury chair of this year's DIMFF independent category, as special guest. Nizamul Kabir said: "From having over a thousand cinema halls in the 90s to less than a hundred in the entire country now, the cinema industry of Bangladesh is in dire straits. The industry needs the brilliance of young filmmakers, and this event is such a wonderful occasion to make young minds passionate about filmmaking." "Cinema can be a potential medium for underprivileged sections of the society to narrate their stories. The purpose of DIMFF is to encourage mobile phones-based movie productions to facilitate the storytelling process beyond the traditional norms," Mohammed Shazzad Hossain, assistant professor of the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh's (ULAB) media studies and journalism department and advisor of DIMFF, said. "Despite many challenging circumstances, we have successfully managed to organise this year's DIMFF and sincerely hope our audience will like this collective effort," DIMFF's first female festival director Zerin Tasnim Tahsin said. Read: Noted artists celebrate Spring at ‘The Passion of Drawing’ by Gallery Cosmos After the inaugural session, eight films were screened today. Some filmmakers joined the ceremony virtually from different countries. Filmmakers whose work was screened are Beraat Gokkus from France, Marcelo Lagreze from Chile, Chris Overton and Dimple Devadas from the UK, Zeke Farrow from the US, Kamal Kachooeian from Iran; Maria Lívia Goes, Mateus Castilha, Natalia Belasalma from Brazil, and Mohamed El Sammad from Egypt. "The Dhaka International Mobile Film Festival is an amazing platform for featuring stories that otherwise would not have seen the light of day," Dr Jude William Genilo, head of ULAB's media studies and journalism department, had said before the event ended. The inauguration ceremony of DIMFF concluded with the vote of thanks by Abdul Kabil Khan, assistant professor ULAB's media studies and journalism department and advisor of DIMFF. On February 27 and 28, the festival will take place at the Shimanto Shambar branch of Star Cineplex, Dhanmondi. A masterclass on documentary filmmaking with East London-based digital creator, documentary filmmaker and YouTuber Andy Burgess will be held Monday at 4pm. The festival is showcasing 26 films – selected from 153 entries – from 31 countries, under three categories.

The eighth edition of the Dhaka International Mobile Film Festival (DIMFF) is going to open its door to film enthusiasts Saturday. The four-day festival will showcase 26 films – selected from 153 entries – from 31 countries, under three categories. The Inauguration ceremony will be held at the university at 11am the day after tomorrow and the closing ceremony on March 1 at Star Cineplex, Dhanmondi. DIMFF 2022 called for submission in three categories – "independent" without any duration or a time limit, "competition" for the university students under the time limit of 10 minutes and "1-minute" for the young filmmakers from grades one to 12. The jury members of the independent category are Sara Afreen, Zahidur Rahim Anjan and Jai Sharma (India). Mahde Hasan, Sally-Ann Dunn (UK) and Elizabeth D Costa are the jury members of the competition and 1-minute categories. The festival will present the "DIMFF Best Film Award" under the independent category, and the "Cinemascope Best Film Award" under the competition category. Read: BGMEA for promoting culture, heritage to boost country's image globally Also, the "ULAB Young Film Maker Award" will be presented to student filmmakers. As per tradition, DIMFF is arranging a masterclass this year by collaborating with East London-based digital creator, documentary filmmaker and YouTuber Andy Burgess, known for hosting the YouTube show "Red Bull Origins." This master class will be held on February 28 via Zoom at 4pm to discuss "Documentary Storytelling for Online Platforms." Festival director Zerin Tasnim Tahsin Probha, coordinator Md Sambitul Islam, supervisor Hasmi Jahan Shetu and public relations and media manager Shamsul Islam Shuvo briefed the journalists about the festival Thursday. DIMFF advisor Abdul Kabil Khan, associate professor of the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh's (ULAB) media studies and journalism department, was also present. The film submission period for DIMFF opened on April 3 last year and concluded on October 28. With the tradition of focusing on a particular cultural heritage element as its festival theme, DIMFF has chosen "Nokshi Pakha" as this year's theme. A flagship event of ULAB's media studies and journalism department, the festival earned the university 28th position in the entrepreneurial spirit category in the World's Universities with Real Impact Ranking 2021. Also, DIMFF has collaborated with Initiative für Neue Bildung as a "partner for change" and provides an online mobile filmmaking course to the ten participants from Barishal's Nook, a self-designed learning centre that enables marginalised community members to pursue their own education. Recently, it arranged the 'Community Digital Story Telling" filmmaking training for the Munda community in Koyra upazila of Khulna and Shyamnagar upazila of Shatkhira.