Liberty on the silver screen

The late Birangana Gurudasi Mandal in Yasmin Kabir’s documentary “A Certain Liberation” (left); a scene from “Taxi to the Dark Side”.

Dedicated to the memory of Birangana Gurudasi Mandal, the '3rd International Festival of Docufilms on Liberation and Human Rights' began at the auditorium of Liberation War Museum (LWM) on December 21.
Organised by LWM, the weeklong festival features 20 films from 10 countries in three sections, and will end on December 27. Eminent writer Syed Shamsul Haque inaugurated the festival.
The curtain raiser was Yasmin Kabir's documentary on Birangana Gurudasi Mandal -- "A Certain Liberation". The film features Gurudasi, who witnessed her entire family being brutally slaughtered by the collaborators of Pakistani army during the Liberation War. Gurudasi's sanity could not bear this trauma. Three decades later, Gurudasi continued roaming the streets of Kapilmuni, a small town in Khulna, looking for all she lost. Gurudasi passed away on December 7 this year.
Speaking on the objective of the festival, Mafidul Haque, a trustee of LWM said, "One of the main purposes of the festival is to link our struggle for freedom with similar efforts of other nations from different corners of the world, and encourage our young filmmakers to come forward to face the challenge of documenting history.”
Mafidul Haque also informed that the non-competitive festival would be turned into a competitive one from next year. LWM has been providing support to those who want to document history.
This year's festival features films divided into three sections -- International Panorama, Country Focus and Bangladesh Panorama. "A Certain Liberation" is among nine films that have been included in the Bangladesh Panorama section. "Mirpur -- The Last Frontier," "Gano-abbhuthyan '69", "Ironeaters" and "In Search of History" are some of the films in the section.
Seven films including "Tales from the Margin," "War Dance," and "Cuba: An African Odyssey" are part of the International Panorama section.
After the US invasion of Iraq, the latter plunged into chaos, confusion and destruction. The organisers have chosen Iraq as the focus country in this year's festival. Five films made on the atrocities in Iraq including "Taxi to the Dark Side," "The Blood of My Brother" and "Voices of Iraq" are being screened as part of the Country Focus section.
"Voices of Iraq" is a film that has been compiled and directed by the people of Iraq. Alex Gibney's "Taxi to the Dark Side" examines the changes in US policies after 9/11, towards suspects in the war on terror, using the torture and death of an innocent Afghan taxi driver as the touchstone.
Today three films -- "The Blood of My Brother," "Roaring Kansat" and "Ironeaters" -- will be screened.