The 19th Dhaka International Film Festival (DIFF) will be held in Dhaka from 16 to 24 January 2021 organised by Rainbow Film Society. The general theme of the festival is Better Film, Better Audience and Better Society.
Necessary preparatory work in this regard is already underway. During the 19th DIFF, organizers expect to screen about 227 films, with participation from around 74 countries.
The screening will be held at the Alliance Francaise de Dhaka, Star Cineplex, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, Central Public Library Auditorium and Bangladesh National Museum Auditorium. Dhaka International Film Festival will be using the virtual platform for the first time starting this coming festival, besides the cinema halls.
Tribute:
One of the very important segments of this festival is the Tribute and the19th DIFF will be honouring the Asian Oscar-winning cinema titan Satyajit Ray. This will be on the occasion of his birth centenary.
The following films will be screened for this important segment of 19th DIFF 2021, “Pather Panchali” (A Song of the Little Road) 1955, “Aparajito” (The Unvanquished) 1956, “Jalsaghar” (The Music Room) 1958, “Sonar Kella” (The Fortress) 1974 and “Hirak Rajar Deshe” (The Kingdom of Diamonds) 1980.
Besides screening his works as a part of our tribute section, the organizers are also arranging a seminar session on January 20 at the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.
“Satyajit Ray: National as Global”
Ray, the most acclaimed film director of Bengal is also the most misunderstood film creator. He appeared in the film world with "Pather Panchali", a film that confused many people in many ways. Nationally he was considered too urban and westernised to make film on rural Bengal, in the West the film appeared to be much rooted in rural India where the director tried to sell the exotic to an audience unaware of the setting.
Satyajit Ray's aesthetics and film perspectives took time to be understood, but he was never a rebel, although he surpassed himself all along his career. He made it difficult to characterize him in one particular way, as he was a national artist with global traits or vice versa, a global artist with national roots. The paper will dwell on such aspects of Ray's aesthetics.
This keynote paper will be presented by Mofidul Hoque, Cultural activist and Trustee Bangladesh Liberation War Museum.
Discussant:
a. Padma Bhushan Ms. Sharmila Tagore is an Indian actress. She is the recipient of Awards for her contributions to Hindi and Bengali cinema.
b. Mr. Dhritiman Chatterjee is an Indian actor and most of his acting work has been in India's "parallel", or independent, cinema with filmmakers such as Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen and Aparna Sen, among others.
c. Mr Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed, Supreme Court of Bangladesh and well-known painting, music and movie collector.
d. Mr. Moinuddin khaled-a well-known critic and teacher of Fine Art and Film. He has been writing about art and film in learning journal for the last 30 years.
e. Mr. Asaduzzaman Noor, an actor in theatre, film and television productions. He is Member of the Parliament since 2001 and former Cultural Affairs Minister of Bangladesh will preside over the session.
