Nandan, one of the key cultural centres of the West Bengal government, is dotted with green and red — the colours of the flag of neighbouring Bangladesh. Over a dozen posters announce the four-day Bangladeshi Film Festival to be held in the city till January 8, which will see as many as 28 documentaries, short films and feature films being screened at different halls at Nandan and Nazrul Tirtha.
“Most of the films in the festival are centred on the Bangladesh War of Liberation. We wanted to organise the festival in December (December 16 is Vijay Diwas, marking the surrender of Pakistani Army in 1971) but it got delayed for some reasons. Now since the festival is being held in January, we have included some films which are not on the war,” Md Manzurur Rahman, Additional Secretary (Admin & Film), Ministry of Information, Government of Bangladesh said.
Mr. Rahman, who is also chairperson of Bangladesh Film Censor Board, told The Hindu that the festival was long due and this was the first time in recent public memory that a film festival was being organised officially between Bangladesh and West Bengal. Cinema lovers can watch these films free of cost at Nandan and Nazrul Tirtha.
Md Mofakkhrul Iqbal, First Secretary (Press), Deputy High Commission for Bangladesh, said that similarity in culture and language made people of West Bengal relate to films from Bangladesh.
Bangladesh Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu inaugurated the festival on January 5 and announced that Dhaka will host a festival with films from West Bengal. “We are making a lot of changes in laws to facilitate filmmakers for both the countries to exploit the Bengali-speaking market,” he said. Mr. Inu emphasised on “cultural cooperation” as a tool fight to terrorism is south Asia.
Among the films which are being screened at the festival are the highly-acclaimed films on the Bangladesh War of Liberation: Guerrilla and Amar Bandhu Rasheed . Both the films released in 2011 and won national awards in Bangladesh.
Another award-winning film, Bapjaner Bioscope , directed by Reazul Mawla Rezu and released in 2015, was the inaugural film at the festival.
