24th Dhaka International Film Festival to commence today

The 24th Dhaka International Film Festival (DIFF) began today under the slogan “Aesthetic Cinema, Thoughtful Audience, Enlightened Society.” The opening ceremony will take place at 4 pm in the main auditorium of the Bangladesh National Museum.

Syeda Rizwana Hasan, Adviser of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Water Resources and Information and Broadcasting, will attend as the chief guest. Special guests included Croatian filmmaker Aleksandra Marković and Li Xiaopeng, Cultural Counselor at the Chinese Embassy in Bangladesh. The ceremony will be presided over by Jalal Ahmed, Executive Member of the Festival Committee.

The festival will open with vibrant cultural performances by Theatrical Company and Jol Torongo Dance Crew. The first screening will feature China’s “Wu Jin Zhi Lu” (The Journey to No End), directed by Chen Xiang, at 5:30 pm, followed by the Iranian film “Without Me” directed by Mohammad Asadania at 7 pm. 

This year, the festival presents 245 films from 91 countries, including Bangladesh, across multiple sections: Asian Film Competition, Retrospective, Wide Angle, Bangladesh Panorama, Cinema of the World, Children’s Film Session, Women Filmmakers, Short and Independent Films, Spiritual Films. Screenings are being held at the National Museum, Kabi Sufia Kamal Auditorium, National Art Gallery, and Natya Shala auditoriums of the Shilpakala Academy, as well as the Alliance Française Auditorium and Stamford University Bangladesh Auditorium.

For the first time, an open-air screening will be held on the beaches of Cox’s Bazar. Organised by the Bangladesh Tourism Board, films from the Dhaka Film Festival will be shown at Laboni Beach Point from January 10 to 18.

This year’s festival will also host the West Meets East Screenplay Lab. From this year onward, the lab has been opened not just to South Asian filmmakers, but to creators from across the entire Asian continent. From the submitted proposals, the top 10 projects have been selected. The lab will award 5 lakh taka to the best screenplay, 3 lakh taka to the second place, and 2 lakh taka to the third-place winner.

A masterclass will be held on January 17. In this day-long event, from 11 am to 6 pm, speakers will include Teresa Vina, Editor-in-Chief of the Swiss film magazine CineBulletin, Croatian filmmaker Aleksandra Marković, and Bangladeshi filmmaker and production designer Liton Kar.

The festival will conclude on January 18 at the main auditorium of the National Museum. Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, Cultural Affairs Adviser, will attend as the chief guest, with Jalal Ahmed presiding over the programme. Following the event, the film awarded as the festival’s best will be screened, accompanied by musical performances from Ahmed Hasan Sunny.