Entertainment Report :
The 9th edition of Liberation DocFest, organised by the Liberation War Museum, will be held virtually from June 8. The five-day long festival is scheduled to end on June 12. On the occasion of the 50th independence anniversary of Bangladesh and the 25th anniversary of the Liberation War Museum, the festival will introduce a series of new screening sessions and special ceremonies. The festival was scheduled for April, due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, it was delayed.
Liberation DocFest Bangladesh is a festival dedicated to documentary cinema, seeking to highlight the struggle for Liberation and Human Rights of people in various parts of the world and its contemporary significance. Among more than 1,900 films from 112 countries, the selection committee selected 110 documentaries to be screened at the fest this year. Under the category for foreign films, 9 documentaries including 3 Logical Exits, Memory Minka, A Farewell to Books, Son of the Streets and Stolen Fish among others. The jury consists of famous film personalities of the South Asia region, including India’s renowned documentary filmmaker Supriyo Sen, Nepal’s first documentary film festival director Mitu Varma and South Korean filmmaker Moon Chil-Park. Under the category of local films, five documentaries were selected for screening by a jury. A Mandolin in Exile by Rafiqul Anowar Rasel, As the Grain Rises by Asma Beethe, Mother Tongue by Md Nadim Iqbal, Why Not by Shekh Al Mamun and Jolo Guerilla ’71 by Sumon Delwar is scheduled to be screened.
The jury panel includes National Award-winning filmmaker Shabnam Ferdousi, veteran director Shameem Akhtar and film critic Alam Khorshed. On the occasion of 25th anniversary of the Liberation War Museum, 12 documentaries from the last five decades will be screened along with a special exhibition of 25 one-minute short films. Multiple panel discussion sessions including ‘Young Film Making Community: Academic Education and Film as Career’ on June 8, ‘Woman Filmmakers in Bangladesh’ on June 9, ‘South Asian Documentary Filmmaker: Looking for Alternative Narrative and Platform for Showcasing Films’ on June 11 are scheduled to be held. A workshop and pitching session titled ‘Exposition of Young Film Talents: Storytelling Workshop for Documentary Filmmakers’ was held from April 7 to 10, in association with Dhaka DocLab and 10 projects were selected at the workshop.
