The 16th Dhaka International Film Festival (DIFF) will begin on Friday in Dhaka.
A press conference was held at Dhaka Club on Thursday to brief on the festival.
Emphasising the importance of festivals, the main sponsor of the festival State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam said, "By making such arrangements, we can introduce Bangladesh to the world. So the government has extended its corporation to the film festivals." He also promised to co-operate in organising any kind of festival that conveys the purpose of Bangladesh.
Rainbow Film Society will organise the festival on a regular basis with the theme on 'Better Film, Better Audience and Better Society' in association with the Information and Foreign Ministries.
Finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith will inaugurate the film festival at the main auditorium of the Bangladesh National Museum while Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Harsh Vardhan Shringla and Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu will be present as special guests in the ceremony, reports UNB.
Festival Director of the DIFF and President of Rainbow Film Society Ahmed Mujtaba Jamal informed "During the 16th DIFF, 216 films from 64 countries will be screened. The festival will feature Asian cinema competition, retrospective, Bangladesh panorama, cinema of the world, children's film, women filmmakers, short and independent films section and spiritual films section."
Ahmed Muztaba Zamal said, a numbers of woman filmmakers, actors and personalities from all over the world will attend 'Fourth Dhaka International Conference on Women in Cinema 2018' organised by Rainbow Film Society in association with the Department of Women and Gender Studies, University of Dhaka. This will be held at the Gallery of the Alliance Francaise de Dhaka on 13 and 14 January, he added.
"The '8th Dhaka Cine Workshop' organised by International Film Critics Association of Bangladesh - IFCAB and Pathshala South Asian Media Institute from January 5 to 20, 2018 began in order to educate future film activists," Muztaba Zamal added.
He also added "This year Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique -FIPRESCI will organise the 1st Asian Film Critics Assembly - AFCA between 15-16 January in the DIFF in association with the International Film Critics Association of Bangladesh - IFCAB in order to communicate, share their professional experiences and opinions on cinema and discuss the general situation of film criticism in Asia."
The organisation has been arranging the festival of the promotion of a healthy cine culture in Bangladesh and in celebrating the global mainstream in film and its social relevance since 1977.
Chief programmer of the festival Sarah Zaman, the chairman of the festival organising committee Kishowar Kamal, member of the organising committee M Hamid while Advisor of organising committee Robiul Islam presided over the conference.
