Bangladesh Short Film Forum will celebrate its 33rd anniversary on Saturday with daylong events at Bangladesh Film Centre in capital’s Aziz Super Market, Shahbagh.
Throughout the years, the forum featured some of the most notable Bangladeshi filmmakers among its members, including Tareque Masud, Morshedul Islam, Tanvir Mokammel, Yasmin Kabir, Zahidur Rahim Anjan, Rashed Chowdhury, Akram Khan, Nurul Alam Atique, Shameem Akhtar, and so on.
The forum is popular for organizing the biennial and non-competitive International Short and Independent Film Festival. The first of which was held in 1988. It is attributed as the first festival in the subcontinent which was dedicated solely to short films.
The anniversary program is scheduled to begin at 11am with registrations followed by a three and a half hour discussion of the forum’s journey.
At 4pm, the forum’s former president, Manjare Hasin Murad will be given an honorary award.
The highlight of the festivities will be the screening of two recent critically acclaimed films- Subarna Senjutee Tushee’s Meenalap (28mins) and Aung Rakhine’s The Last Post Office (17mins).
President of Short Film Forum, Zahidur Rahim Anjan told the Dhaka Tribune Showtime that the biggest contribution of the forum is that it is a common platform for young, alternative filmmakers and activists.
“We don’t work for or with the film industry,” he said.“We support films that are artistically imbued, and socially conscious. It is a big platform where upcoming filmmakers can help each other.”
He chalked out the plans and projects of this new year highlighting the biennial of short films they will organize this December.
“We have several ongoing projects- the biennial, which started in 1988 and was the first of its kind in the subcontinent, will take place in December,” he said.“We have training programs sometimes for the new filmmakers. We also have an annual publication Onno Chhobi we’re hoping to bring out soon.”
Anjan added that the forum holds regular screenings of short films by young filmmakers where they get to interact with the audience. The forum also has a steady filmmaking competition for the last two years in association with Unicef where amateur under 16 filmmakers make films based on a given idea or topic. Another important work the forum does is they help independent filmmakers navigate through alternative distribution channels and film festivals.
About the two films to be screened on the occasion of the 33rd anniversary, Anjan said: “Both of the works are very good and they have been exhibited in many places around the world. Aung’s film was shot in a remote place with a surreal theme. Tushee’s film was feminist, and stood out from the crowd. I was impressed with the ideas, and the artistic expressions in these films.”
