The 9th edition of Dhaka DocLab, one of Asia's leading documentary co-production project markets, concluded on Saturday August 16. The 10-day online event concluded with mentoring, one-to-one meetings and pitching sessions, and the closing ceremony was held at the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.
Masuma Rahman, Managing Director of Bangladesh Film Development Corporation (BFDC), and SM Abdur Rahman, Vice Chairman of Bangladesh Film Certification Board, were present as special guests at the event.
The event, organized in a hybrid format, was moderated by Dhaka DocLab Director Tarek Ahmed. Among others, film director Akram Khan, member of the Film Certification Board Rafiqul Anwar, and director of the drama and film department of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, Faiz Zahir, spoke.
In addition, renowned documentary filmmakers, producers, distributors, festival directors and creative heads of the International Documentary Lab from different countries, including participating producers from different countries, joined the event online.
Dhaka DocLab is a unique platform for documentary filmmakers in Bangladesh, where young and emerging filmmakers from home and abroad get the opportunity to present their projects and connect with various organizations.
Due to the changing situation and the uncertain financial situation of organizing the event, the 9th edition of Dhaka DocLab was held completely online this year. In the workshops and pitching sessions held from August 3 to 13, filmmakers from 9 countries including Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Philippines, Malaysia, UK, South Korea, Singapore, Ukraine participated with 17 filmmaking projects.
At the closing ceremony, several filmmakers were awarded for their projects. Among them, Chitta Anandi's "Blue Collars from the Frontline" (Bangladesh) and "Prabha" by Binita Negi (India) received the DocAge New Zealand Award. The EuroDoc Award and DocEdge Kolkata award went to Tyran Razzak‘s "Mantra of the Mangroves" (Bangladesh).