Entertainment Desk :
Md Al Hasib Khan’s “The Burning Canvas” and Jukto Fuad’s “Tobe Ki Polayonei Mongol,” were selected in the competitive category of DIMFF.
Dhaka International Mobile Film Festival (DIMFF) 2018’s curtains will lift from February 17 with screening sessions at University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh’s (ULAB) auditorium. This is the 4th edition of the festival, which started as the first mobile film festival in Bangladesh. The main criteria of participating in this festival are that the films must be shot by students on smartphone cameras.
Two short films from Bangladesh- Md. Al Hasib Khan’s “The Burning Canvas” and Jukto Fuad’s “Tobe Ki Polayonei Mongol,” were selected in the competitive category of DIMFF. The other three films selected in the same category are- “The Garbage” directed by Kustrim Amlani from Kosovo, “Vilambal” directed by Senthamizhan Arunachalam Manjula from India and “Julia 2” directed by Zabihullah Shahrani also from India.
Young filmmakers from 32 countries sent in 95 films for screening and 20 films for the competition at this year’s DIMFF. The festival’s director Mir Wadud Islam started the official selection process at ULAB screening room on Saturday. The event organizers, Cinemascope’s advisor Mohammad Sazzad Hossain and instructor Zahid Gagan were also present with the jury.
The jury panel declared the five films for the competition category on January 21. The panel consists of filmmaker Matin Rahman, writer-director-producer Proshoon Rahman and writer-film critic Bidhan Rebeiro. They have also declared a list of 30 films as primary selections for screening at the festival.
In a conversation with Dhaka Tribune’s Showtime, Proshoon Rahman described how they had to disqualify a lot of well-made films because they didn’t meet the competition’s requirement of being shot by students on smartphones. He said the competition verified these facts through collecting enrollment documents and “working stills” from the film sets.
We asked the director how he thinks the fact that the jury panel is all-Bangladeshi, will influence the decision making in an international film competition, especially when most of the participants are foreign.
“The technology is the same. Maybe the storytelling is different. Since we watch so many foreign films at different places, I think we have grown a taste for it,” said Proshoon Rahman.
ULAB Media Studies and Journalism department, Radio Campbuzz, ULAB TV and ULAB Animation Studio are the event partners of the festival.
