Entertainment Report :
The 20th Dhaka International Film Festival
concluded on Sunday which awarded Tamil
director PS Vinothraj’s directed and India’s
official entry to Oscars 2022 Koozhangal (Pebbles)
as the Best Film this year. As for the Bangladeshi films, two periodic films jointly received the Audience Award: Nurul Alam Atique-directed
Lal Moroger Jhuti and N Rashed Chowdhury
directed Chondraboti Kotha, while Shabnam
Ferdousi directed film Ajob Karkhana got the Best Film Award by FIPRESCI Jury in the Bangladesh Panorama category. A total of 17 awards were given in different categories at the closing ceremony of the 20th Dhaka International Film Festival, organised by the Rainbow Film Society at the Bangamata Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib Auditorium of Bangladesh National Museum.
The closing ceremony was joined by Information Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud as the chief guest, while Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy Director General Liaquat Ali Lucky and Dhaka Club Ltd President Khandaker Mashiuzzaman Romel were present as special guests. Presided over by festival executive committee member and Liberation War Museum Trustee Mofidul Hoque, DIFF Director Ahmed Muztaba Zamal delivered the welcome speech at the closing and award giving ceremony.
This year’s festival was mostly dominated by the strong screening of Asian films. Stories namely from India, China, Nepal, Russia and Iran bagged several awards at the 20th edition of the global festival.
In the Asian Cinema Competition Section, the Best Director Award went to Sujit Bidari for the film Ainaa Jhyal Ko Putali while the Best Actor Award went to Jayasurya for the film Sunny, and the Best Actress Award went to Sussan Parva for Botox,
an Iranian-Canadian joint production.
The award for the Best Script Writer went to Indranil Roychowdhury and Sugata Sinha for Indranil Roychowdhury-directed film Mayar Jonjal (Debris of Desire), a joint production of Bangladesh and India, which showcased stellar performances by seasoned actors Ritwick Chakraborty, Aupee Karim and more. The film is based on Manik Bandopadhyay’s two short stories, titled Bishakto Prem and Shubala. The other award for the Asian Film Competition Section, the Best Cinematography Award went to Zhou Wencao for Cafe by the Highway (China), directed by Shi Xiaofan.
As for the Women Filmmakers Section, the Best Feature Film Award went to Maryam Bahrololumi-directed Iranian film Shahrbanoo, while the Best Documentary Award went to Antonia Kilian-directed documentary Joen Toisella Puolen (Germany-Finland) and the Best Short Film Award went
to Alexandra Matheou-directed film A Summer Place’ (Cyprus-France).
