Three Bangladeshi films at SAARC Int'l Film Fest
The seventh edition of the SAARC International Film festival, set to be held from November 21-25 in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo, will feature three Bangladeshi films. Tauquir Ahmed's “Oggatonama”, Morshedul Islam's “Anil Bagchi'r Ekdin” and Zakir Hossain Raju's “Premi O Premi” will be screened at the National Film Corporation of Sri Lanka.
The festival will open with Indian film “Pinky Beauty Parlour”, and feature a total of 24 feature-length and short films. India and Sri Lanka have the highest representation at the competition with five filsm each; Nepal has four entries; Bhutan, Afghanistan and Pakistan each have two titles at the festival while Maldives has one.
“Premi O Premi” and “Anil Bagchi'r Ekdin” will be screened on November 22, while “Oggatonama” will be screened on the closing day of the festival, November 25.
Since its inception in 2011, the SAARC Film Festival has been held in Sri Lanka, organised by the SAARC Cultural Centre (SCC) in keeping with its mandate of promoting culture in the region through different modes of art. SAARC member states nominate a number of films each year, from which a jury selects the best films. Awards are handed out in a number of categories, namely: Best Feature Film, Best Short Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Cinematographer, Best Editor, Best Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Film – Open Category and two Special Jury Awards.
Bangladesh has had some success at the festival in recent years, with “Jalaler Golpo” last year winning best cinematographer (to Barkat Hossain Palash) and best original score (Chirkutt), and “Nekabborer Mohaproyan” also screening at the festival. In 2015, “Mrittika Maya” received a silver crest in the best film category. Earlier, four films from the country – full-length features Tanvir Mokammel's “Jibondhuli”, Shahnaz Cacoly's “Uttorer Sur” and short films “Al Badr” (by Fakhrul Arefeen Khan) and “Loknayak Kangal Harinath” (produced by the Department of Film and Publication) were screened at the 2014 edition of the festival.