Abdur Rauf, founder-curator of Bangladesh Film Archive, remembered
A memorial programme on the 9th death anniversary of the founder-curator of Bangladesh Film Archive (BFA) A.K.M Abdur Rauf (1935-2000) was held at the auditorium of BFA on April 1. 'Muktijoddha, Shilpi Abdur Rauf Smriti Shangshad' was the organiser of the event, which featured discussion on life and works of Abdur Rauf by noted film personalities and Rauf's near and dear ones.
Muhammad Jahangir, director general of BFA, gave the welcome speech. Samar Chandra Paul, secretary, Ministry of Information was the special guest, while film actor turned lawmaker Sarah Begum Kabori graced the programme as the chief guest.
Noted filmmaker and convenor of Abdur Rauf Smriti Shangshad, Chashi Nazrul Islam, presided over the programme.
Filmmakers Morshedul Islam, Tareque Masud and Badal Rahman; poet Kazi Rosy; film historian Anupam Hayat; media personality Syed Hasan Imam and widow of Abdur Rauf, Shahanara Rauf, who is also joint secretary of the Smriti Shangshad, reminisced about Rauf.
Molla Mosharraf Hossain, member secretary of the organisation, read out a brief biography of Rauf.
A.K.M Abdur Rauf was born in Khulna. Rauf started his career as a Bangladesh Civil Service (Information) cadre. He was the typographer of the constitution (1972) of People's Republic of Bangladesh.
During his role as the curator (equivalent to director general now) of BFA, Rauf visited several film archives across the world and collected some priceless documents and prints of films. His collection included a print of "Mukh O Mukhosh"; photographs of the first silent film made in Dhaka, "The Last Kiss"; a print of "Dhrubo," (1934) directed by National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam; Pramathesh Barua's "Devdas" (1935) and a print of the first silent film made in the sub-continent, "Raja Harish Chandra."
Abdur Rauf was also a notable cover designer. He designed covers of nearly 2800 books. A.K.M Abdur Rauf died on April 1, 2000.
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