The 8th edition of Ritwik Film Festival began in Rajshahi on Monday with an inaugural ceremony at the Rajshahi Homeopathic Medical College and Hospital, the home of Ritwik Ghatak's father.
Ritwik Ghatak Film Society in Rajshahi organized the four-day festival to honour the 94th birth anniversary of the critically acclaimed film-maker.
Film-maker and Professor at the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute Shyamal Karmakar, teacher, film-maker and cultural activist Zahidur Rahim Anjan, film-maker Akram Khan and researcher and theatre personality Kazi Syed Hossain Dulal were presented with Ritwik Shommanona Padak for their contribution to various fields of cinema.
Since 2011, Ritwik Ghatak Film Society has presented the Shommanona Padak to 26 film personalities from both Bangladesh and abroad, for their contribution to cinema.
The Assistant High Commissioner of India in Rajshahi, Sanjeev Kumar Bhati, poet and scholar Professor Ruhul Amin Pramanik, writer and scholar Dr Tasikul Islam Raja and Rajshahi University Film Society President Dr Sajjad Bakul were present at the inaugural ceremony as honoured guests.
The inaugural ceremony began with a dance performance, presented in the context of 1947 Partition of Bengal. The music was arranged by singer Rakibul Hasan Robin and the dancers were from Dhrupodalok, a dance troupe based in Rajshahi.
The welcome remarks of the inaugural ceremony were given by the film-maker and festival director Ahsan Kabir Liton, and theatre personality and the General Secretary of Ritwik Ghatak Film Society Mahmud Hossain Masud. The inaugural ceremony was presided by Ritwik Ghatak Film Society President Dr FMA Jahid.
As part of the festival there was a panel discussion yesterday on the outline of future film society activism in Bangladesh. The discussion was among the representatives of film artistes of North Bengal, and it took place in the teacher's auditorium at the Shah Makhdum College in Rajshahi.
The main attraction of the festival however was the screening of popular local and international films. The screenings are happening at Lalon Shah Mukto Moncho in Pathanpara, from 6pm to 8pm on each day of the festival, which ends on Thursday.
