Star Cineplex and United International University (UIU) jointly organised a documentary festival, which was screened at the Star Cineplex on September 19. The theme was based on “Urban Transportation System” of Dhaka City and the long wait in unmoving traffic on streets every day.
Through this documentary competition, participants have tried to give various solutions to reduce the terrible traffic situation of the capital.
Around six universities took part in the festival. The jury board of the competition was formed with filmmaker Redwan Rony, Mohammed Mostafa Kamal Raj and national award winner and filmmaker Moushumi.
The handful of amateur filmmakers tried their best to portray the harsh traffic conditions of our county and the everyday struggle of common men to get basic public transportation.
Many gave solutions by showing a documentary of interviews of commoners, who gave their opinion on this pressing issue.
Besides, the frustration of the passengers in getting public transports was extensively explained in these short flicks. The documentary “18 hours in 180 Seconds” won the competition.
The documentary was critically acclaimed, Dhaka Tribune caught up with director Zahid Gogon about his documentary: “The biggest challenge in making this documentary was the time frame. The issue of heavy traffic is one of the most pressing issues of the country and to portray all the challenges and difficulties of the situation in 180 seconds was a monumental challenge.”
“I have named the documentary ‘18 Hours in 180 Seconds’ because we had footages of 18 hours that we had to accommodate in 3 minutes only. The documentary is an effort to present that, though our mind is running, but for the transportation in Dhaka, we are physically halted in one place.”
The winner got fifty thousand taka as prize money.
The runner up documentary “Nogor Jibon” received thirty thousand and the third winner “Take Me Home” received twenty thousand taka as prize money. Besides, all the participants received crest from Mahbubur Rahman. Through this competition, the enthusiastic young filmmakers participated and showed their potential to establish themselves as filmmakers in the country.
