The 17th International Inter-University Short Film Festival (IIUSFF) began at the TSC premises of Dhaka University on Monday evening, with speakers discussing the festival’s journey and the role of cinema in truth-telling and preserving cultural memory.
Organized by the Dhaka University Film Society (DUFS), the festival began in 2007 in a small room on the 2nd floor of TSC with the slogan “Take Your Camera, Frame Your Dream.”
DUFS President Rehnuma Shahreen said 1,269 films from 92 countries, including Bangladesh, Iran, the United States and Poland, were submitted to this year’s festival.
She said the scale of the festival would have been unimaginable in 2007, when opportunities for communication and networking were limited.
The 3-day main event, running from September 21 to 23, features open screenings of 200 selected short films, discussions with student filmmakers and a live art camp.
The festival is being held with support from UNDP Bangladesh, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Dhaka.
Speaking as a guest, film critic and teacher Bidhan Rebeiro referred to the recently released documentary “Naza.”
He said the documentary has sparked debate worldwide by featuring testimonies from former Israeli intelligence officials about the use of artificial intelligence in attacks on Gaza, while its filmmakers have faced threats.
According to Rebeiro, the term “Naza” is used in intelligence circles to describe civilian casualties in such attacks.
He said the Israeli government had threatened to revoke the filmmakers’ citizenship and completely ban the production after the documentary was screened at the Venice and Toronto film festivals.
Rebeiro described the documentary as a “poetry of resistance” and praised its restrained visual language for challenging the global system of aggression.
He also linked this year’s festival theme, “Baul,” to the word “batul,” meaning madness, and said it reflected the social attitudes faced by people in Bangladesh who are interested in studying or pursuing careers in film.
He said cinema should be recognized as a complete and independent discipline rather than merely a vocational subject.
Teacher and film society movement activist Moinuddin Khaled discussed the difference between documentaries and propaganda.
He expressed regret that, despite documentaries being at the roots of cinema, Bangladesh lacks strong documentary records of its folk life and riverine civilization, including group fishing, jute cultivation and boat races.
Referring to Baul music and Lalon songs, he said: “The day we lose Baul songs, we will lose our greatest means of self-expression.”
He described farmers and fishermen as the 2 main pillars sustaining the civilization of the nation.
