10th Int'l Short and Independent Film Festival ends

Heino ByrgesenPhoto: STAR

The award giving and closing ceremony of the "10th International Short and Independent Film Festival, Dhaka-'08" was held at the Shawkat Osman auditorium of Central Public Library on February 22. French film A Sunday in Pripyat (directed by Blandine Huk and Frederic Cousseau), Slovakian film Abel's Black Dog (directed by Mariana Cengel-Solcanska) and Stay in Touch (directed by Saiful Islam) were awarded as the Best Documentary, Best Fiction and Tareque Shahriar Memorial Best Independent Shorts of the festival respectively.
A brief discussion session was held preceding the award giving ceremony. President of Bangladesh Short Film Forum N. Rashed Chowdhury gave the welcome speech, while Manzarehasin Murad, director of the festival gave the vote of thanks.
Since its inception in 1988, the festival turns into competitive format from this year. In the best Documentary Segment, filmmaker and Jury Board member Shaheen Dill-Riaz announced A Sunday in Pripyat as the Best Film. In the Best Fiction Film Segment, Jury member and filmmaker Morshedul Islam announced Abel's Black Dog as the Best film.
Cinematographer and film activist Zahidur Rahim Anjan, one of the juries of Independent Shorts segment, announced Stay in Touch for the Tareque Shahriar Memorial Best Independent Shorts of the festival.
The organisers initiated Independent Shorts segment from this year to encourage young independent Bangladeshi filmmakers. Less than ten minutes length films made in any format was allowed for the segment. The award winning film Stay in Touch is made in Cell Phone format.
Noted litterateur and Chairperson of the festival Hasnat Abdul Hye handed over the award to the recipients. Among award winning filmmakers only Saiful Islam was present at the programme.
Hasnat Abdul Hye also gave the closing speech, after which the award winning films were screened.
During the nine-day long festival, beginning from February 14, over 170 films from 36 countries were screened. Oxfam GB was the partial sponsor and ntv was the media partner of the festival.