The 9th edition of Liberation DocFest, organized by Liberation War Museum, kicked off on June 8.
On the occasion of the 50th independence anniversary of Bangladesh, the five-day festival is set to introduce a series of new screening sessions and special ceremonies. Due to the ongoing pandemic, it is being be held virtually.
Prominent cultural figure Syed Hasan Imam inaugurated the festival. “This festival will teach the youngsters about the glorious and often bloody history of people all around the world fighting for independence and human rights,” he said.
On the first day of the festival, 31 documentaries were screened.
1900 films from 112 countries were submitted to the organizers, among which 110 documentaries will be screened at the festival.
In the ‘Competition’ categories for foreign films, nine documentaries will be screened, informed a press release. The jury is consisted of famous film personalities of the South Asia region, including India’s renowned documentary filmmaker Supriyo Sen, Nepal’s first documentary film festival director Mitu Varma and South Korean filmmaker Moon Chil-Park.
In the ‘Competition’ category for local films, five documentaries will be selected for screening by a jury including National Award-winning filmmaker Shabnam Ferdousi, veteran director Shameem Akhtar and film critic Alam Khorshed.
Liberation War Museum is also turning 25 this year, on the occasion of which 12 documentaries from the last five decades will be screened along with a special exhibition of twenty five one-minute short films.
Moreover, a workshop and pitching session titled ‘Exposition of Young Film Talents: Storytelling Workshop for Documentary Filmmakers’ will be held on April 7-10, in association with Dhaka DocLab.
