A five-week-long mobile filmmaking workshop will take place from October 6 onwards, jointly organized by the Dhaka International Film Festival (DIMFF) and the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.
This workshop will be open to undergraduate students from any educational institution, according to a press release issued on Sunday.
During the workshop, students will receive hands-on training and create films on the theme "forced to flee," a new category established with the UNHCR’s support for the tenth edition of the DIMFF.
The student films produced through the workshop will reflect both the experiences of refugees—people forced to flee their homelands due to violence, persecution, conflict, or human rights violations—as well as the experiences of the communities hosting them.
As Bangladesh is currently hosting nearly one million Rohingyas who fled violence in Myanmar, the workshop will offer an opportunity to empathetically engage with the ongoing refugee crisis through the medium of mobile film, says the release.
The workshop sessions will take place every Friday and Saturday from October 6 to November 4 on the permanent campus of University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB).
Registration for the free workshop closed on September 28.
The Dhaka International Mobile Film Festival, which began its journey in 2015 with the motto "New Generation, New Tools, New Communication," aims to promote filmmaking using mobile phones.