National film policy soon
A national film policy will be formulated soon in order to encourage production of good movies imbued with the spirits of the language movement, liberation war, secularism, and democratic and cultural values, Information Minister Hasanul Huq Inu said yesterday.
The aim of the policy will be preventing vulgarism, fundamentalism, militancy, and bad culture in Bangladeshi films, he told a roundtable at Dhaka University. The Department of Television and Film Studies (TFS) of Dhaka University organised the discussion, "Vision of Bangladesh Film Policy", at the university senate building.
Inu said those who did not want changes, advancements and did not want to abide by the constitution opposed policies including the National Broadcast Policy.
Presenting a keynote paper, Prof AJM Shafiul Alam, chairman of the TFS department, said the policy should encourage production of decent films and help bring back the audience to cinemas.
He suggested formation of the "National Independent Film Commission", which would promote film related research and education. The commission will also investigate allegations against films and cinemas and take action accordingly, he said.
The professor said that to encourage film production, soft loan should be given and duties on importing film equipment and taxes relaxed. He also called for founding a film certification board by abolishing the present censor board to rate movies.
Prof Alam said national awards for non-commercial film should be introduced and grants for film production increased.
DU Vice Chancellor Prof AAMS Arefin Siddique said no policy should aim at controlling the mass media in this century.
Film producers Manzure Hasim Murad and Matin Rahman also spoke.
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