While the country’s key film industry continues to be a male-dominated realm, one where women can rarely be found behind the camera, the rise of independent film has begun change to the scene, however slowly. And one of the best showcases for the progress that women filmmakers have made is here in our backyard. The Dhaka-based International Women’s Film Festival has come around for the second time, making it a continuously running one-of-a-kind festival in the region.
The festival assembles 70 films from 20 countries all made by female filmmakers. The festival opened with Samia Zaman’s alternative to watching love-tale “The Distant Sky” which stands as the only feature entry from the host country while the rest four are short in length and largely focus on woman issues and go with the festival’s theme: “Film in women’s eye.”
Five phenomenal entries, “Fight Acid Violence” (Bangladesh), “Self Offence2 (USA), “Lucy vs The Limits of Voice”(Mexico), “Tragedy” (Iran) and “3 Knots” (India), have been honoured as Best Films via audience vote.
During the festival, a film appreciation workshop took place. It consisted of twenty young female enthusiasts along with a seminar on “Women in Making Film: Context Bangladesh.” The workshop and the initiative they have taken have made it both an interactive and intellectually charged platform for all those involved.
As a single participating country Mexico has made the highest entry with 20 films from various genres. This has also made them the focusing country this year. By partnering with Global Mate, International Women’s Film Festival Network, Mexican Film Institute and New York based Women Make Movies, the organisers made sure more participants took part in the competition and vowed to raise the number even further in the future.
