20th Dhaka International Film Festival to begin on Jan 15

• Integrity Education, Delhi
• 14, Jan 2022

The 20th Dhaka International Film Festival (DIFF) will take place between January 15-23 at multiple venues in Dhaka. The festival will showcase 225 films from 70 countries under 10 categories. Announcing the details in Dhaka on Thursday, the Festival Director Ahmed Muztaba Zamal said that despite COVID pandemic, more than 50 foreign delegates will participate in the festival.

The film festival is being organised in a hybrid mode with many films being streamed online during the festival.

The Indian entries to the 20th DIFF include films like Koozhangal directed by P S Vinothraj, Avijatrik directed by Subhrajit Mitra, Mayar Jonjal directed by Indranil Roychowdhury, and Aandaal directed by Shareef Easa among the 35 entries.

The festival will have ten sections including the Asian Competition Section, Retrospective, Tribute, Bangladesh panorama, Wide Angle, Cinema of the World, Children’s Film, Spiritual film, Women Filmmakers section and short and independent films.

The retrospective section will screen five films by the renowned Japanese Film maker great Japanese filmmaker and screenwriter Yasujirō Ozu. These include Tokyo Story (1951), Tokyo Twilight (1957), Equinox Flower (1958), Late Autumn (1960) and An Autumn Afternoon (1962) directed by him.

21 films are competing under the Asian Competition Section. The best film will be decided by a reputed jury for the award of Taka 1 lakh along with a crest and certificate.

A two day conference on the ‘Role of Women in Films’ will also be organised on 16-17 January in which eminent film makers, scholars and film personalities will participate.

The DIFF will also organise the 8th edition of the ‘Women in Cinema’ international conference as well as the 4th edition of the ‘West meets East’ screenplay lab during the festival.

The festival will be inaugurated on Saturday, 15 January by the Foreign Minister of Bangladesh Dr. A K Abdul Momen. Bangladesh State Minister for Culture K M Khalid and High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh Vikram Doraiswami will be special guests on the occasion.

The Dhaka International Film Festival (DIFF) is organised by the Rainbow film Society established in 1977. The DIFF was started in 1992.

Sources : News on AIR