4th Sylhet Film Festival to kick off on Sunday

The fourth edition of Sylhet Film Festival, organized by Sylhet Agricultural University Film Society (SAUFS), will kick off on Sunday, July 5, with a goal to encourage independent film-makers. The ten-day event will end on July 15. 

To avoid the potential spreading of Covid-19 and to maintain social distance, the fourth edition of the festival will be held online.

Professor Dr Md Matiar Rahman Howlader, the vice chancellor of Sylhet Agricultural University (SAU), Bangladeshi prominent film-maker Morshedul Islam and Director of the Students Counseling and Guidance   professor Dr Mithu Chowdhury will take part in the inauguration ceremony on Sunday at 7pm.

In this edition, 109 officially selected films will be screened out of 3061 submissions from 112 participating countries. Famous film festival consultant of Indian subcontinent, Premendra Mazumder is curating the festival as chief festival adviser. 

The jury board includes Bangladeshi filmmaker Ashraf Shishir, VFX artist and producer Wahid Ibn Reza, film-maker Muktadir Ibna Salam, film critic and screenwriter Sadia Khalid Reeti, actor Manoj Kumar Pramanik, Indian film critic and Siddhartha Maity.

Iftekhar Ahmed Fagun, the president of Sylhet Agricultural University Film Society (SAUFS) informed the press that the festival would include discussion sessions along with film screenings, where filmmakers, critics, writers, actors, scholars and media personnel from Bangladesh and abroad will take part.

Along with jury members, film-maker Tauquir Ahmed, Amitabh Reza Chowdhury, Shameem Akhter, additional DIG of Bangladesh police Joydeb Kumar Bhadra, Indian film-maker Arnab Midya, actor Abantika Biswas, Urmila Mahanta, actor Soham Mazumder, singer June Chatterjee will take part in several discussion sessions. 

Forty participant filmmakers from Bangladesh, India, Iran, Turkey, Brazil, UK, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Egypt, Pakistan, Belgium, Argentina and Venezuela will take part in other discussion sessions.

Participants in the discussion session will talk on world film, status of independent filmmaking in different countries, post pandemic film distribution system, future of the streaming platforms, status of film criticism in Bangladesh, quality analysis of films by new makers, the role of film and visual media in the development of agriculture sector and awareness creation, and some other topics.

Films, discussions, inauguration and closing ceremony will be live broadcasted on the SAUFS’s website (https://saufs.org), Sylhet film festival website (https://festival.saufs.org), Facebook Page (http://facebook.com/saufsofficial) and their YouTube Channel (http://youtube.com/saufsofficial). 

The organizers have invited the public and independent filmmakers to enjoy the festival on these platforms.