Goethe-Institut Bangladesh, with the Berlinale World Cinema Fund (WCF), is proud to announce the second screening of WCF awarded films in the series titled ‘Berlinale Spotlight World Cinema Fund’ in South Asia. The event is simultaneously available in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
The series continues to showcase outstanding international productions in the next four months. Each streaming session will be followed by a live QA Talk with the filmmakers moderated by award-winning auteur director Kamar Ahmad Simon from Bangladesh.
Kamar himself has been awarded with WCF for his upcoming film ‘Shikolbaha’ (Iron Stream).
All the films have been carefully picked from more than two hundred WCF awarded films. The selected bundle, curated by Sara Afreen and the WCF, has already been in official selection of many international festivals and made notable audience reception for their cinematic brilliance.
The second film is “PENDULAR”, a film by Brazilian director Julia Murat. It is a winner of the FIPRESCI Award at the Berlin International Film Festival 2017 (Panorama) and Audience Award at the AFI Fest 2017.
The film opens for streaming on Friday, February 26, 2021 at 3:00 PM, BST and is available for viewers until Saturday, February 27, 2021 at 3:00 PM, BST.
During these 24 hours, viewers can watch the film with free access on an online platform (https://sheracholochitro.com/), and are invited to join the live QA Talk live on Goethe-Institut Bangladesh’s Facebook page (https://m.facebook.com/goetheinstitut.bangladesh/) on Friday, 26 February 2021 at 9:30 PM, BST.
World Cinema Fund (WCF) is a prestigious initiative of the Berlin International Film Festival, along with the Federal Foundation for Culture and in cooperation with the Federal Foreign Office, the support of the Creative Europe/Media Programme, the Secretariat of ACP Group of States and further support of the Goethe Institut
Goethe-Institut Bangladesh is co-hosting the event with different other Goethe-Instituts of South-Asian region in their network.
Sara Afreen, an independent producer from Bangladesh who is curating the series together with the WCF says, “All the films inherently talk about politics, raising issues of war, aggression, justice, socio-political system but with such pathos, lyricism, spontaneity that they never come to surface”.
Dr Kirsten Hackenbroch, Director, Goethe-Institut Bangladesh says, “The initiative aims at inspiring young filmmakers to make unconventional and authentic films, and in addition fosters inter-regional networking”.
Vincenzo Bugno, the head of the Berlinale World Cinema Fund says, “We are dealing with demanding and dangerous times. More than ever we are trying our best in order to support the production of films in WCF regions but also their visibility: we are grateful to the Goethe-Institut for giving us this opportunity”
The Moderator of the series Kamar Ahmad Simon says, “The idea of moderating a WCF awarded films session in South Asia triggered me to say ‘Yes’. I look forward to listening to fellow filmmakers from around the world to understand the evolving language of cinema”.