Photo : Courtesy
The “22nd Dhaka International Film Festival” (DIFF) to be held from January 20 to 28, 2024 will screen films from prominent Georgian filmmaker George Ovashvili.
His works to be shown are Beautiful Helen (2023), Khibula (2017), Simindis Kundzuli (Corn Island) (2014), The Other Bank (2009) and Eye Level (2004).
Ovashvili is a film director, writer, and producer who has gained critical acclaim for his unique vision and style of filmmaking. He has established himself as an auteur filmmaker because of his distinctive storytelling, use of visual storytelling, and his ability to put a personal stamp on his films.
The event will be held at Alliance Francaise de Dhaka, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy and Bangladesh National Museum Auditorium.
The theme for the festival organised by the Rainbow Film Society is “Better Film, Better Audience and Better Society”.
During the occasion a conference segment titled “Tenth Dhaka International Conference on Women in Cinema 2024” will be held January 21 and 22.
Another segment includes “West Meets East Screenplay Lab: West Meets East” which is a section of Dhaka International Film Festival aimed at bridging the gap between the Western and Eastern film industry. Any filmmaker from this region (Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Afghanistan, Maldives, Bhutan and Sri Lanka) can submit a feature length fiction project.
On the basis of the submitted synopses and treatment of the feature length fiction project, a jury will select the top 10 projects to attend the Screenplay Lab from January 23 to 26. On the final day of the lab the participants will pitch their projects in front of industry professionals at the “Film Haat” (Film Market) at DIFF.
Of these, three successful projects will be awarded cash prizes. The first prize being USD 5000, the second and third prizes are USD 3000 and USD 2000 respectively. The deadline for project submissions is August 31, 2023.
The organisers expect to screen about 220 films, with participation from around 70 countries.
There is expected to be competitions during the festival under the categories of “Asian Cinema Section”, “Retrospective”, “Tribute”, “Wide Angle”, “Bangladesh Panorama Section”, “Cinema of the World Section”, “Children Films Section”, “Women Filmmakers Section”, “Short and Independent Films Section” and “Spiritual Films Section”.
TDM/FMT
