Mentoring of the finalists will be done during the West Meets East Screenplay Lab, and pitching will take place at the Film Hut, both during the 20th Dhaka International Film Festival in January, 2022
From this year, Dhaka International Film Festival introduces West Meets East Screenplay Lab, where selected filmmakers from this region will be given an opportunity to network with professionals including producers, distributors and programmers from the global industry. After mentoring at the Lab, the successful participants will pitch to potential international collaborators through a Film Hut.
West Meets East is a special section of Dhaka International Film Festival aimed at bridging the gap between the Western film industry and filmmakers from the East. After the success of the last three events, this year the organizers are taking it to the next level, in a bid to facilitate the development of a local and regional independent filmmaking scene.
Any filmmaker from this region (Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Afghanistan, Maldives, Bhutan and Sri Lanka) can submit a feature length fiction project with the following documents- logline (maximum 50 words), synopsis (maximum 400 words), director’s statement (maximum 400 words), treatment (maximum 2000 words), and director’s profile.
Ahmed Muztaba Zamal, festival director of DIFF, told Dhaka Tribune Showtime: “Regional co-operation is paramount to the success of films in the global context. This Screenwriting Lab and Film Hut is designed to encourage independent filmmakers from our region to transcend borders."
Also read: DIFF 2021: A few good films in Bangladesh Panorama section
Only the selected projects will be asked to submit a complete screenplay. Submissions will be open from April 30, 2021. The above documents must be submitted to [email protected] by June 30, 2021. Shortlisted applicants will be notified by August 31, 2021. They will be required to submit the full script by October 31, 2021.
Mentoring of the finalists will be done during the West Meets East Screenplay Lab and pitching will take place at the Film Hut, both during the 20th Dhaka International Film Festival in January, 2022. After successful pitching, three projects will be awarded cash prizes: 1st Prize being USD 5000, and 2nd and 3rd Prizes being USD 3000 and USD 2000 respectively.
The 20th DIFF will take place from January 15-23, 2022.
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