Week-long celebration of the silver screen

Aamaar Bhuvan, a film by Mrinal Sen, to be screened at the festival

Including host Bangladesh, so far 36 countries have confirmed their participation in the festival. The countries are India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Thailand, Singapore, Japan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Malaysia, Finland, Austria, Netherlands, Italy, Ukraine, Poland, Check Republic, Norway, China, Afghanistan, Croatia, Yugoslavia, Mexico, Benin, Tazikistan, Ivory Coast, Kazakistan, Iran, Argentina, Hungary, Slovenia, Lithuania, Spain, Brazil, France and Germany.

In eight categories, a total of 123 films will be screened at the festival of which 23 are from Bangladesh. 10 classic and artistic movies will be presented in the category Bangladesh Panorama. The International Showcase will focus on the recent films that have won prizes at different international film festivals. Classic Showcase will show 10 classic foreign films, while Popular Showcase will screen a selected package of highly popular films made all over the world. Focus will present 6 recent movies on the war torn and post-war Vietnam. Retrospective will be a tribute to the famous Sri Lankan filmmaker Dr. Lester James Pares screening 6 of his great movies.

Besides these there are two competitive categories--Winner of the Don Quixote and International Competition. 5 films, which have won the prestigious Don Quixote award given by the International Federation of Film Societies (IFFS), and 14 films from 11 Asian countries will be screened in these two categories.

Films apart, festival also features a number of seminars and open forums. Two seminars on 'Popular Films' and 'Cinema Vs Television' will be held where the keynote papers will be presented by Zakir Hossain Raju, Assistant Professor of School of Communication, Independent University, Bangladesh, and well-known film critic Premendra Majumder. Also a discussion session on Vietnamese films will be conducted by filmmakers and film producers from Vietnam.

Open forums will provide opportunity for discussion on relevant aspects between the participating foreign filmmakers and the country's media workers and film activists.

IFFS will form a jury board consisting five selected film activists--2 Europeans, 2 Asians and a Bangladeshi. The jury board will select three films--1 for the best film award worth US$ 6000, and 2 for special recognition award worth US$ 2000 each.

Several publications will come out on the occasion of the festival including souvenirs, posters, stickers and a daily bulletin.

Apart from the concerned filmmakers, a delegate of 45 eminent film personalities including Indian filmmakers Mrinal Sen, Buddhadev Dasgupta, Goutam Ghosh, Sri Lankan Dr. Lester James Pares and Sumitra Pares, Vietnamese filmmaker Dung Nath Ming, will attend the festival.

Honourable Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia is expected to inaugurate the festival at the Osmani Memorial Hall. The budget of the festival has been estimated to 87 lacs taka.