5th Dhaka Int’l Mobile Film Festival ends at ULAB

The two-day Dhaka International Mobile Film Festival (DIMFF) concluded at ULAB Permanent Campus on 16 February. Organised by CinemaScope, a film apprenticeship programme of Media Studies and Journalism (MSJ) department at ULAB, the festival is a first of its kind in Bangladesh. Previously it was known as Cinemascope Mobile Film Competition. This year, 96 films from 34 countries were submitted in the festival and finally the jury panel selected 10 films for competition, two in the one-minute film category, and 26 films for screening. The jury board consists of writer, director and producer ProshoonRahmaan; and writer and film critic BidhanRebeiro; and cinematographer Rashed Zaman. prothomalo.com was the media partner of the event, which was divided into four sessions. Professor Dr H.M. Jahirul Haque, Vice Chancellor of ULAB, inaugurated the festival on 15 February. He thanked the MSJ for organising such an international event on a regular basis. Film director, writer and actor Matin Rahman graced the inaugural session as the chief guest. In this speech, Dr Jude William Genilo, head of MSJ, thanked CinemaScope, ULAB’s very own apprenticeship program dedicated to film making, and PR4U, another apprenticeship programme of the department that organised the event. The following two sessions featured talks of two MSJ faculties -- “Prospect and Opportunity of Mobile Film” by Wafi Aziz Sattar, and “Mobile Film Festivals and Global context” by BijoyaAnam. Keeping close to the objective of DIMFF to instill the art of filmmaking in young minds, the one-minute category, which was restricted to Grade 1-12 students, did not fail to keep the audience spell-bound. Two films were screened in this category -- “Story” by Bangladeshi young filmmaker Muzahidul Islam Zahin and “Handsfree” by Lukas Dernelius from Sweden. Prof Milan Kumar Bhattacharjee, treasurer of ULAB, delivered the welcome speech in the concluding session on 16 February. Film director, writer and actor Matin Rahman also attended the concluding session as the chief guest. The “Best Film”award went to “A Pair of Horns on a Female Homo Sapiens” by Saleh Kashefi from Iran and “ULAB Young Filmmaker” award went to “Handsfree”. Two CinemaScope members received the awards along with cash, certificates and crests on behalf of the winners. The two-day festival came to a close with a vote of thanks by the Advisor of DIMFF, Mohammad Shazzad Hossain, thus bringing an end to the action-packed festival, until the next time. ULAB VC Professor Dr H.M. Jahirul Haque; film director, writer and actor Matin Rahman; and MSJ head Dr Jude William Genilo inaugurating the DIMFF 2019. MSJ faculty members were present at that time.