Bangladesh plans two-day film festival in Guwahati in 2020

The Bangladesh government is planning to hold a festival of some of its best films in Assam early next year, a diplomat of the neighboring country said here on Wednesday. Taking part in the 3rd Guwahati International Film Festival (GIFF), the Assistant High Commissioner of Bangladesh in Guwahati, Shah Mohammad Tanvir Monsur said the proposed festival is likely to be held during January-February in 2020.

"The Information Ministry of the Bangladesh government floated this proposal of having a single country film festival in Guwahati. We plan to hold it in association with Jyoti Chitraban film studio," Monsur told PTI at the GIFF 2019. After seeing the success of the GIFF, the Bangladesh government is in discussion with various stakeholders and the event will be finalized in the coming days, he added.

When asked how many films will be screened, Monsur said: "We are thinking of a two-day festival. So, we plan to screen 5-6 best Bangladeshi cinema for the movie lovers in Guwahati." During the ongoing 3rd GIFF, two films from Bangladesh were screened in the presence of their directors and star cast. The Assam Government-owned Jyoti Chitraban (Film Studio) Society is the organizer of the 3rd GIFF, which is being held from October 31 to November 6 with a platter of 100 acclaimed films from 65 countries, in association with Dr. Bhupen Hazarika Regional Government Film and Television Institute.

The festival began with streaming of the Iranian film 'Charcoal' (Komur) by renowned director Esmaeel Monsef, while 'To The Desert' (Al Desierto) by Argentinian director Ulises Rosell will be the closing film. This year, Iran is the country of focus with five films, while the focus region is Latin American and Caribbean countries with seven films in the GIFF 2019.

Apart from these countries, films from Sri Lanka, Hungary, South Korea, Spain, Israel, the US, Taiwan, Italy, Iceland, China, Canada, Philippines, France, Portugal, Bhutan, Bolivia, Poland, Russia, Japan, Nepal, Germany, Belgium, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, Indonesia, Vietnam, Qatar, Slovenia, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Syria, Denmark and Tunisia will also be screened..