Arts-&-Culture
Cultural arena united in grief over losing a true giant
Ekushey Padak recipient mass-music legend Fakir Alamgir passed away on Friday night, and noted personalities in the cultural arena of Bangladesh have shared their deep condolence and reminisce fond memories with the singer, ever since the news of his departure broke into the news.
Aged 71, the beloved singer breathed his last on Friday night, hours after suffering a heart attack at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the United Hospital, where he was admitted since mid-July after catching Covid-19.
Sharing his tribute, Hanif Sanket, creator of the popular magazine show ‘Ittyadi’ wrote on his official Facebook page: “Fakir Alamgir, the artist of the masses, has passed away. I am feeling the pain of losing a relative in the news of the sudden death of this great artist, filled with human qualities. Recently I was quite alarmed at the news of his illness and I was also keeping my eyes on his updates. I spoke to Bhabhi two days ago and she informed me that he was a little stable and asked for prayers."
“I saw a glimmer of hope,” he added; “but he lost his battle against the deadly coronavirus. He has always played a leading role in various movements for the rights of the artists, just as he has inspired people in various movements. In the cultural arena, he has always been by the side of everyone's happiness and sorrow. I have a lot of conversations with him - many stories - many memories. I remember the memorable times when we attended many events together. I seek his forgiveness and extend my deepest condolences to the bereaved family.”
Read: Folk music legend Fakir Alamgir leaves the stage for the last time
Noble Laureate and recently conferred with the prestigious Olympic Laurel, Professor Dr Muhammad Yunus said he is deeply saddened by the news, and shared a fond memory with the singer, saying, “I am deeply saddened by the sudden death of mass artist Fakir Alamgir, a prominent freedom fighter and artist of Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra. His departure is an irreparable loss to Bengali culture, especially folk music. Throughout his life, he sang in the language of the souls of the poor and miserable people and he was always vocal in various movements. His folk music touched my heart with his performance about the Grameen Bank service at the Nobel Prize-winning public reception in October 2006.”
Alamgir was a pivotal member of the Bangabandhu Cultural Alliance, and its current President Advocate Tarana Halim wrote, “On behalf of the Bangabandhu Cultural Alliance, I would like to express my deepest condolences to the bereaved family on the death of Fakir Alamgir, the eminent Ekushey Medal recipient and legendary performer of the Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra. His role in popularizing the folk music of this country will forever be memorable.”
Kaushik Hossain Taposh, musician, Managing Director and CEO of private television channel Gaan Bangla Television who worked with Fakir Alamgir on his reprised presentation of Alamgir’s massively popular song ‘O Sokhina’ at the channels ‘Wind of Change’ programme said, “Rest in Peace dearest Fakir bhai! May Allah bless you. No words will be enough to express our feelings.”
Prominent singer Kanak Chapa wrote on her Facebook: “Our Fakir Alamgir is gone! Innalillahi Wa Inna Ilaihi Rajiun. The man with the vitality of such an energized young man got defeated by the terrible claws of Corona! I'm in mourning, I do not have the language to express this regret.”
Read: Fakir Alamgir : When the song ends
“He fought for Mass-Music throughout his whole life. He became the spokesman of the masses. He was the lifeblood of our folk music,” she added.
Popular actor and singer Chanchal Chowdhury wrote, “Fakir bhai, stay well in your afterlife. You used to like taking photographs. We couldn’t take the last photo together.”
Noted thespian and Member of the Parliament Suborna Mustafa said, “Fakir Alamgir - the end of an era. Deepest respect to the departed soul. Our music world won't be the same without him. Condolences to his family and friends, may his soul rest in eternal peace.”
Singer and journalist Elita Karim wrote, “Goodbye Fakir Alamgir - a legend, a changemaker, a patriot, a young heart, a happy person - thank you for showing us all respect and giving us all so much love! May you rest in peace.”
Apart from the cultural personalities, several cultural institutions and organizations including Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, Liberation War Museum Bangladesh, Chhayanaut, Bangabandhu Cultural Alliance and more have also paid respect to the legendary singer.
Fakir Alamgir was laid to eternal rest earlier today at the Taltola Graveyard, following a last namaz-e-janaza post-Zuhr at the Khilgaon Matir Mosque.
Chhayanaut pays tribute to Rabindra Sangeet legend Mita Haque
Country's prominent cultural institution Chhayanaut arranged an online cultural tribute on Saturday night, in respect of late Ekushey Padak winning late Rabindra Sangeet singer Mita Haque.
Titled 'He Bhubonomohini', the virtual programme broadcasted on Chhayanaut's Facebook group and YouTube channel, was a collective tribute including remembrance talks, recitations and song performances of noted artists and cultural personalities towards Haque, who was Chhayanaut's one of the integral parts through her lifelong bonding with the Institution.
The singer, who was also the unit head of the Department of Rabindra Sangeet at Chhayanaut, passed away on April 11 after losing her battle with COVID-19.
Chhayanaut Secretary General Laisa Ahmed Lisa opened the programme with her introductory remembrance speech, which was followed by other noted solo speakers including Chhayanaut President Sanjida Khatun, artist Nasehun Ameen, Liberation War Museum trustee Mofidul Hoque, artist Sushmita Ahmed Borna, Asim Dutta, Mohua Monjuri Sunanda, Hasan Arif, Sharmila Bandopadhyay, Bulbul Islam, Enamul Haque Omar, Ahmad Mazhar, Bangladesh Women's Federation President Dr Fouzia Moslem, Durbadal Chattopadhyay and former Minister for Cultural Affairs and eminent thespian Asaduzzaman Noor.
"Mita was surprisingly active with strong personality since her childhood whom I never saw getting stumbled in her ways. She was my brother-in-law's daughter, so I got to see her thriving through every barrier of learning, as she was always a natural learner," Chhayanaut President Sanjida Khatun lauded Mita Haque, sharing some of her fond memories regarding music with the talented artist.
Also read: Eminent Rabindra Sangeet singer Mita Haque passes away
"As an active cultural organizer throughout her life, Mita was naturally possessed with personality and individualism. She was flamboyant, she was a natural performer and organizer, and we have always been inspired through her activities," Liberation War Museum trustee Mofidul Hoque spoke highly on her skills and activities as an organizer and one of the lifelong companions of Chhayanaut.
Eminent thespian and former Minister of Cultural Affairs Asaduzzaman Noor reminisced the Rabindra Sangeet maestro, saying: "Mita was already a family friend, and our bonding got even stronger after her marriage with Khaled Khan who was a pioneer thespian. She was a thriving force behind establishing an enriched cultural practice in Bangladesh, and her contribution will forever be remembered through her admirers, colleagues and us."
The event also showcased some of the notable performances of the late Rabindra Sangeet maestro, alongside poetry recitals and song presentations of her cultural colleagues.
Artists including Mita Haque's daughter Farhin Khan Jayeeta, alongside artists Sushmita Ahmed Borna, Abhaya Dutta, Iffat Ara Dewan, Bulbul Islam, Sharmeen Sathee Islam, ATM Jahangir, Tania Mannan, Khairul Anam Shakil, Elora Ahmed Shukla, Suman Chowdhury, and Laisa Ahmed Lisa performed several songs from the genres of Rabindra Sangeet, Nazrul Sangeet and others.
Born into a musical family on September 6, 1962, the noted artiste received her musical training from maestros including her paternal uncle and late musicologist Waheedul Haq, current Chhayanaut president Sanjida Khatun and musician Ustad Mohammad Hossain Khan, to name a few.
She has been a regular performer in the Bangladesh TV and radio since 1977 and was one of the top-ranked performers of both National Radio and Television
Besides her esteemed singing career, Mita Haque was the founder director and teacher of her music school Shurotirtha. She has served as the head of the Department of Rabindra Sangeet at Chhayanaut, Dhaka and also as the former general secretary and incumbent vice-president of the Rabindra Sangeet Shommelon Parishad.
For her remarkable contribution to the music industry, she was conferred with Ekushey Padak in 2020 and the Rabindra Puraskar from Bangla Academy in 2017.
BEUFF leaves strong first impression with virtual format
Successfully connecting the film-lovers from different corners of the world through its virtual platform, the first-ever Bangladesh European Union Film Festival (BEUFF) concluded on Wednesday after a three-week run to mark the golden jubilee of Bangladesh's independence, as well as of the friendship between the EU and Bangladesh.
It was organised by the European Union's mission in Bangladesh, in partnership with all the EU Member States' individual Embassies in Dhaka: Germany, France, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Italy and Spain, as well as the two cultural centres- Germany's Goethe-Institut Bangladesh and the French Alliance Française de Dhaka.
The festival featured 7 Bangladeshi films from young aspiring filmmakers, 7 EU feature films, and 7 international short films on climate change.
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Discussing the festival's success and other aspects, a webinar was arranged on Wednesday with the associates of the festival's organizing partners.
Broadcast live on the Facebook page of the Daily Prothom Alo, the festival was joined by the European Union in Bangladesh's Deputy Head of Diplomatic Mission Jeremy Opritesco, Goethe-Institut Bangladesh's Director Dr Kirsten Hackenbroch, Alliance Française de Dhaka Director Olivier Dintinger, Director of Operations at RedOrange Media and Communications Petra Van Der Eijk, Dr Nepomuk Zettle from the film department of Goethe-Institut Munich, Dhaka International Film Festival's Director Ahmed Muztaba Jamal, and Producer-Director Arifur Rahman from Gupi Bagha Productions Limited.
Hosted by noted filmmaker, media personality and International Film Initiative of Bangladesh (IFIB) President Samia Zaman, discussants on the webinar lauded the participation of the audiences and talked about the new reality of film festivals around the world amid the challenging situation of COVID-19 global pandemic.
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"Before starting the festival, we had no other option than to do it virtually, and then we were wondering if we will find any audience, considering the COVID-19 crisis. We thought people would probably be bored by watching the films online as we all have been hearing about online fatigue, but after the festival got started, we were quite surprised to see that the audience was quite high and the engagement was quite strong," European Union in Bangladesh's Deputy Head of Diplomatic Mission Jeremy Opritesco said at the webinar.
"So that was an excellent surprise and that led us to the conclusion that having an online festival is probably something that has to be looked at, even in the future when the COVID crisis will be ended," he added.
Also read: First-ever Bangladesh European Union Film Festival (BEUFF) kicks off online
Echoing the same, Dr Kirsten Hackenbroch, Director of Goethe-Institut Bangladesh said, "It's the future - the home cinema; the smaller, semi-public living room screenings. I think we are going to see more of the hybrid format and it would be really interesting to explore how we can make use of this new virtual reality. It becomes more private, then again, it opens up more to a global world because we can bring more people together in Q and A sessions much more easily and interactively."
Dr Nepomuk Zettle, representing the film department of Goethe-Institut Munich also agreed with her, adding that the online festivals are challenging yet good additions in the time of COVID-19. He said, "My personal guess is that we will see more hybrid formats in the future and I am very much hoping that this is not only the first European International Film Festival but also that there are many to come."
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Alliance Française de Dhaka Director Olivier Dintinger said, "We had no alternative within the COVID-19 situation, yet we managed to reach a new audience through this festival and even reached people who have never come to Dhaka or Chittagong and couldn’t visit in a normal format. We are still missing the experience of watching movies in cinema halls. It's a completely different dynamic that we have been collaborating with festivals like the Dhaka International Film Festival this year, and I hope that we will be able in coming months to witness more of these hybrid formats."
Petra Van Der Eijk, Director of Operations at RedOrange Media and Communications said, "This has been the first-ever European Union Film Festival in Bangladesh and it has been a great success, almost all Bangladeshi films were sold out and even we were asked for extra tickets. That's a very good result I would say, and also, as already said by other discussants, we can reach a broader public around the world which is especially also the goal of the festival and the bigger projects which the film festival belongs to. As for people from the Netherlands, I know for sure they looked at Bangladeshi films and that is really something great."
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She informed that more than 4,400 people watched the films at this festival while almost 10,000 people visited the dedicated website, and over 1.5 million new visitors have visited the Facebook page of EU to learn about the festival during its timeline.
Producer and Director Arifur Rahman said, "I really believe online is not the only option and cinema is an experience that needs to be felt within. As artists and filmmakers, we all believe that we can obviously cope-up; for example, if we look at the film history, when sound came - people never thought sound will be 100% compatible with films but now we cannot imagine most of the films without sounds."
Also read: Curtains down on 14th International Children's Film Festival Bangladesh
"So the same kind of shifting is going on virtually now but it's actually not appropriate in my opinion. Currently, I am in France for the Cannes Film Festival; it's physical and here we can have all the ideal experiences, we can see the emotion of the filmmakers. That's really important in this journey - we have to see the expressions and the filmmakers' journey on their faces. So definitely the format should be hybrid, and as for the online formats - it has its positive-negative both sides."
Explaining the existing situation in the country, DIFF Director Ahmed Muztaba Jamal said, "We need support from the bureaucrats and associates. For film censoring, getting funds, getting the permissions and everything else, we have to go through many hardships. It's very complicated as sometimes it gets very difficult to convince the government people of the necessity of a film festival."
"A film festival can work as an ambassador of a country. It can also help build a strong cultural environment in the country, as well. Cinema is a strong media that can easily reach people, again proved in our DIFF which was organised back in January this year. Many audiences joined our festival in person and joined a lot of seminars and conferences that we organised via the virtual platform. Most notably, the film conference on Satyajit Ray that we arranged this year, was watched by over 40,000 people," he informed at the webinar.
Read Female filmmakers of Bangladesh have made their mark in the industry
A dedicated website (www.beuff.org) was launched on June 9, allowing the audiences access to all films and other information related to the festival.
The festival also featured masterclasses, questions/answer sessions with directors, discussions on gender representations in cinema, climate change and a handful of other issues.
Organizers of the festival expect to bring more engaging festivals in the future that can promote EU's cultural exchange with Bangladesh and further shed light on vital issues such as education and skill development, climate change adaptation, food and nutrition security, good governance, safe migration and sustainable reintegration of refugees, empowerment of women and girls: EU's priorities for development cooperation in Bangladesh.
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3 Inspirational books to read in quarantine
Introduce yourself to motivational books during this pandemic. It can help you get yourself to pick up the pieces and start over when you can’t see the light, and need a little push to put you back in the race of life. You literally are not alone when you are with a book. Among the blessings and gifts of human beings, books rank high. A touch of reading your favorite book is enough to transform your thought processes. Here we have picked 3 inspirational books to read during the Corona virus quarantine period.
Best motivational books to inspire you during pandemic lockdown
‘The Alchemist’ by Paula Coelho
This book is a singularly motivational masterpiece. The book tells about a Spanish shepherd boy named Santiago following his dream. He begins his journey with a dream of finding treasure in the Pyramids of Egypt.
On the way, he happens to meet few people including a nomad woman, a man who claimed himself king, a man who claimed himself an alchemist, and then a real alchemist. All of them help Santiago in the way of his dream. He encounters many obstacles or hurdles during his trip. His money gets stolen; he becomes a victim of hypocrisy, and even gets captured in the desert.
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If you enjoy surrealism, ‘The Alchemist’ book will win your heart. What is more? This book is a magical source of inspiration that extends beyond Santiago’s Sahara and into all lives, whether young, old, or teenage.
Get the book
‘The Obstacle is the Way’ by Ryan Holiday
In this book, Ryan Holiday describes how you sometimes feel about your age, status, situations, physical conditions, and attitude. Every obstacle may be unique. But your emotional responses – like fear, frustration, confusion, helplessness, depression, and anger – remain the same.
This inspirational book, ‘The Obstacle is the Way’ will introduce you to Stoicism, the ancient Greek philosophy which teaches the development of self-control. Here, the writer Holiday uses the firm philosophy of Stoicism to deal with the concept ‘you are only your troubles’.
READ: Gender Dichotomy: Woketopian Impact on Human Lifestyle
In this book, Holiday depicts how some characters including men and women experience day-to-day frustrations and horrors, from imprisonment to debilitating illness. Reading this book, you will see how the characters had to tackle rivalries, political headwinds, resistance, conservatism, and economic calamities which in turn became fuels for them.
Get the book
The Alter Ego by Todd Herman
This book establishes the idea that finding your Alter Ego gives you the freedom to unlock your inner creative force.
As per Herman, the way your Alter Ego battle the natural challenges you face with greater optimism can unlock a more playful and empowering approach to overcoming fear.
Utilizing the alter ego, you can achieve goals either big or small. Along with the way, it will unlock the capabilities you didn’t know were there.
READ: Cinema preserves time through narrating real-life stories: KM Khalid
In the book, ‘The Alter Ego’ the words are full of motivation. This book aims to show you the how people can do arduous tasks when it is most needed but least expected.
Get the book
In a nutshell
Motivation is critical and has been proven to be the difference between underachievers and highly successful individuals. Scientific research has established that there is a connection between motivation and the unseen residual energy levels. This explains why motivational books and speakers have been accepted by all individuals regardless of age.
Read Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill: Worth Reading in Your Quarantine
ULAB's DIMFF places 28th in 2021 WURI Ranking
The Dhaka International Mobile Film Festival (DIMFF), a signature event from the Media Studies and Journalism department of University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB), has been ranked number 28 in the Entrepreneurial Spirit category in the World's Universities with Real Impact (WURI) Ranking for 2021.
The WURI ranking comprises the global top 100 and top 50 in each of these areas: Industrial Application, Entrepreneurial Spirit, Social Responsibility, Ethics, and Integrity; Student Mobility and Openness for Exchange and Collaboration; and Crisis Management.
This year's WURI ranking acknowledged ULAB which has placed 27th in Crisis Management, 28th in the Entrepreneurial Spirit with DIMFF, and 39th in Ethics and Integrity.
Read WURI Ranking 2021: ULAB among global top 100 innovative universities
Moon Hwy-Chang, the WURI Founding Director, Project Leader and Professor Emeritus of Seoul National University, officially cited this world-standing of ULAB at a virtual ceremony in Seoul on Thursday. "ULAB is the only Bangladeshi university to place within the top 100 universities this year," Prof Hwy-Chang said.
Head of the Department of Media Studies and Journalism Professor Jude William Genilo congratulated everyone related with DIMFF, saying this achievement will help DIMFF to take more new initiatives in the future.
DIMFF Adviser and Assistant Professor in the Department of Media Studies and Journalism at ULAB Mohammad Shazzad Hossain said, "This is the biggest achievement in the history of DIMFF till date, and this recognition came through the dedication and tireless works of the students."
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WURI is the first global innovative university ranking designed to stimulate and evaluate universities' flexible and innovative efforts to foster a workforce that meets the demand from industry and society. Dhaka International Mobile Film Festival 2022 (DIMFF-2022) is all set for its eighth term with a bunch of dedicated team members working passionately on their respective teams. The film submissions are open till 23rd September 23, 2021.
The selected films will be screened at the festival's opening and closing sessions on February 25-26, 2022.
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'New generation, New tools, New communication' - with this motto, the Dhaka International Mobile Film Festival (DIMFF) commenced its journey back in 2015, mainly to inspire people to create films using mobile phones.
Further information regarding the DIMFF are available at filmfreeway.com/DIMFFand www.dimff.net.
Gender Dichotomy: Woketopian Impact on Human Lifestyle
The Woke concept has thrived from racial discrimination and intersectional feminism to the freedom of personalization and social activism. This woke culture has influenced a lot of men and women in person. Gradually, some eye-catchy marketing contents place this idea to a new dimension as many have been carrying it as a lifestyle. Due to investing in addressing social injustices, it became a revolutionary phenomenon from individual to public stages.
Background of the Woke in Gender Dichotomy
Previously the call to “stay woke”, Woke was only for Black communities. But in 2014, after the police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, “stay woke” suddenly became a great call to action of Black Lives Matter activists on the streets. Six years later, “woke” has become a single word rife with leftist political ideology, based on social and racial justice. Gradually, it keeps assembling other social issues along with it. The male-female dichotomy is one of them.
Read 84% of women facing sexual harassment
Male Woke vs. Female Woke
When it was confined to racial justice, the Woke community raised for black people. It went forward to the social rights of black women. There came the term- “Intersectionality”. It identifies gender, caste, race, class, religion, disability, physical appearance, and height. These intersecting social identities had been both empowering and oppressing.
Intersectionality largely focused on the experiences of women who were both white and middle-class, including black women, poor women, immigrant women, and other groups. Wokeness leads Intersectional feminism to separate itself from white feminism by acknowledging women's different experiences and identities.
Contrarily, this Woke idea gives birth to the idea of changing the socialization of men. Being a man is not only being an adult male. It’s something that needs to be continually proven. The Woke community has been fighting against this traditional aspect.
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Society forces men to prove manhood rather than anything innate to the behaviours considered masculine. It results in toxic masculinity. When you get pressure to prove your identities to other people, it gets messy. It affects the attitude of many men, and it changes their behaviour drastically. However, decoupled from this force and tied to identity, they become overwhelmed, distorted and, even harmful.
Being "woke" has then become a soul to many peoples. Although "Wokeness" is a bit hard at first. But traditional manhood is even more stressed. The Woke culture has created a situation of precarious manhood. People who would like to be woke, need to keep proving their wokeness and there are social consequences for being unwoke.
Besides, performing feminism, along with similar social justice causes, has become another method of tailoring the wokeness. Like male with female behaviour, females must also have some good reasons for manly attitude and some of those reasons are still valid. However, some expressions of feminism have become exaggerated, distorted, and harmful.
Read Only 1 in 20 women directors of listed companies 'independent'
In the end
Though Woke was initialized for positive ethos, it has broken all stereotypes in race, gender, orientation and ideology. Wold lifestyle critics try to justify them as fair or unfair but the Woke concept has made a remarkable change in freedom and living.
Cinema preserves time through narrating real-life stories: KM Khalid
State Minister for Cultural Affairs KM Khalid said that film is an important medium of art and culture, especially in today's world that is largely regulated by social media platforms.
“Film is a very timely medium of entertainment and universally admired as the most engaging and close medium for projecting life as realistically as possible through reflecting the joys-sorrows-laughter and tears, within a limited timeframe”.
The State Minister made his remarks while inaugurating the 3rd Bangladesh Short film and Documentary Festival 2021 on Friday, as the chief guest at the virtual inauguration ceremony.
Mentioning Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy (BSA)’s various activities in the medium of cinema, KM Khalid said, “BSA has been conducting activities with films since its inception in 1974. As part of its continuation in upholding our films through connecting the filmmakers and audiences, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy organized ‘Bangladesh Film Festival’ in 2015 and 2017, and 'Bangladesh Short Film and Documentary Festival' in 2016 and 2018, in 64 districts of the country simultaneously.”
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Secretary of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs Badrul Arefin, noted filmmaker Amitabh Reza Chowdhury and prominent film scholar-researcher Anupam Hayat also joined the inauguration ceremony as special guests and shared their thoughts on this special festival.
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BSA's Director of Theatre and Film department and prominent thespian Afsana Karim Mimi delivered the welcome speech at the inauguration ceremony, which was chaired by BSA Director General Liaquat Ali Lucky. The inauguration ceremony was hosted by media personality Nabanita Chowdhury.
18 artists, 2 organisations to receive Shilpakala Padak 2019, 2020
Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy announced the names of 20 recipients for its prestigious Shilpakala Padak 2019 and 2020 Saturday.
Eighteen cultural luminaries and two cultural organisations will receive the award, said the academy.
The award has been conferred to creative personalities for their continuous contributions to arts, culture, entertainment and literature since 2013.
However, the award was not conferred in 2019 and the ceremony could not take place in 2020 due to the ongoing global pandemic.
Also read: Names of Shilpakala Padak 2018 recipients announced
The recipients of the 2019 award are Mohammad Moniruzzaman (instrumental – flute), Lubna Marium (dance), Hasina Momtaz (vocal), Abdul Mannan (fine arts), Masud Ali Khan (dramatics), M A Taher (photography), Shamvu Acharaya (folklore), Hasan Arif (recitation), Anupam Hayat (film) and cultural institution Chhayanaut (creative cultural unit).
For 2020, the selected cultural personalities are Shamsur Rahman (instrumental – shehnai), Shibli Mohammad (dance), Mahmudur Rahman Benu (vocal), Shahid Kabir (fine arts), Malay Bhowmick (dramatics), Shafiqul Islam Swapan (photography), Shah Alam Sarkar (folklore), Dahlia Ahmed (recitation), Shameem Akhtar (film) and Dinajpur Nattya Samity (creative cultural unit).
The awards will be handed over to the recipients at a ceremony later at the academy in the capital's Segunbagicha.
Each recipient will get a gold medal, a cheque of Tk1 lakh, and a certificate.
Bangladeshi artist wins international award
Bangladeshi artist Fawaz Rob’s art work on the plight of Myanmar’s displaced citizens, Rohingyas, has been voted the best entry among all participants at the PenhArt International exhibition.
Jurors and audience voted his art ‘Long Walk Home’ to be the best among eighty participants from all over the world, including France, Japan, the USA, and the UK.
“I’m very delighted to receive this international award. An artist has the responsibility to stand up against the evil of his era,” said Fawaz Rob.
Read Rehana Maryam Noor: The Bangladeshi Film in the prestigious list of Cannes
“The dehumanization of Muslim communities across the world is the tragedy of our time. The agonies of Rohingyas, Palestinians, or Uyghurs are tactfully being ignored and international organizations have collectively failed these people. If my art can bring world attention to the sufferings of Rohingyas, then my purpose is served,” he added.
Fawaz studied at universities in San Francisco (USA) and Florence (Italy). He is a practising architect and taught at NSU architecture department for 10 years.
First Bangladeshi film in Cannes' Un Certain Regard: After Matir Moyna, 'Rehana Maryam Noor' makes history
The 74th Cannes Film Festival has officially announced its selection of young Bangladeshi director Abdullah Mohammad Saad's 'Rehana Maryam Noor', as one of the 18 films to be featured in its prestigious 'Un Certain Regard' section this year.
Following Thursday's (June 03, 2021) announcement, 'Rehana Maryam Noor' is set to become just the second Bangladeshi film to be showcased in a competitive section of the storied festival, arguably the most prestigious and celebrated film showcase in the world.
It is of course the first from Bangladesh to be chosen for Un Certain Regard, which translates to 'From Another Angle' in French, and features films that stand out for their unusual styles and often non-traditional storytelling.
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Previously, late Tareque Masud-directed Matir Moina (2002) was the first Bangladeshi entry to be screened in competition at the festival, coming away with a prestigious FIPRESCI award.
The second directorial venture by talented filmmaker Abdullah Mohammad Saad, 'Rehana Maryam Noor's storyline narrates the tale of the eponymous private medical college teacher who becomes the witness to an unexpected incident while leaving the college one day. Being awestruck with the incident, Noor starts to protest against the incident and the system, as the story moves forward.
The ensemble cast of the film features prominent actors including Saberi Alam, Azmeri Haque Badhon, Afia Zahin, Kazi Sami Hasan, Afia Tabassum, Yasir Al Haque and more, in the major roles.
Also read: Antonio Banderas grateful for a later-in-life Cannes award
Apart from being the director, Saad also wrote the screenplay. His maiden directorial venture was the much-acclaimed film 'Live From Dhaka' (2016).
On this historic and prestigious inclusion in one of the major segments of the festival, popular television director Ashfaque Nipun congratulated the film and its associates on social media, writing - "What a great day for Bangladeshi Cinema and Bangladesh!
Filmmaker Abdullah Mohammad Saad's 2nd feature film 'Rehana Maryam Noor’ has been officially selected in Cannes Film Festival's "Un Certain Regard" competition! This is the first time any Bangladeshi Film has been nominated in one of the two most significant and important competitions at the "Cannes Film Festival"! A huge huge shout out to Saad and Team 'Rehana Maryam Noor’! You guys have made us proud."
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Official website of Cannes stated that on Thursday, noted French journalist Pierre Lescure and Cannes and Lumiere Film Festival director Thierry Frémaux presented the Official Selection of the 74th Festival de Cannes at the UGC Normandie in Paris. This year's festival is scheduled to take place from July 6 to 17 in Cannes, France.
Alongside Un Certain Regard, other segments of this year's festival are 'In Competition', 'Out of Competition', 'Midnight Screenings', 'Cannes Premiere' and 'Special Screenings'.
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