The Bangladesh Short Film Forum is organizing the “17th Bangladesh International Short and Independent Film Festival” with 276 films from over 100 countries.
The festival will be inaugurated by Md. Nahid Islam, Advisor to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, at 4 pm on Friday December 20 at the main auditorium of the National Museum in Shahbagh. The festival will end on December 27.
This year's festival is dedicated to the martyrs of the July-August uprising and the birth centenary of artist SM Sultan.
Palestine has been selected as the country focus of this year's festival. Eight fiction films from Palestine will be screened at the Sufia Kamal Auditorium of the National Museum from 3 pm to 5 pm on December 25.
Arab countries have been selected as the regional focus. On December 26, 9 fiction films and a documentary will be screened at the National Museum's Cineplex auditorium from 11 am to 1 pm and from 3 pm to 5 pm.
The film 'The Dream, The Fight, The Victory', made on the July-August uprising, will be screened on December 23. There are several sessions besides this. Nurul Rashed Chowdhury, Zahirul Islam, Rafiqul Anwar, Tarek Ahmed, Nayeem Mohaymen and many others will be present in these sessions.
There will be a closing and award distribution ceremony at the main auditorium of the National Museum at 5 pm on December 27. Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, Advisor to the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, will be present as the chief guest. Painter Wakilur Rahman and City Bank Chief Economist and Country Business Manager Ashanur Rahman will be present as special guests.
Syed Imran Hussain Kirmany will be the festival director.
Although there has been public statements made by several senior members including Tanvir Mokammel, Morshedul Islam, Manzare Hassin Murad, who are not currently in any executive position in the forum, it's current president, Zahirul Islam Kochi confirmed that the festival will continue as planned.
