Second conference on women filmmakers held

The 2nd conference on women filmmakers of Dhaka International Film Festival ended on January 22. Papers were presented in several episodes at the conference held at Samson Lounge of Dhaka Club.

In the morning, Bangladeshi female maker Mehzad Ghalib presented an article entitled "Possibility of Female Driven Content in the OTT Platform in Bangladesh". The head of Mass Communication and Videography Department of St. Xavier's College, Kolkata, West Bengal, India named Dr Ipsita Barat, Bangladeshi actress Bonna Mirza and Bangladeshi filmmaker Shankh Das Gupta discussed on the motion. This session was chaired by Bangladeshi independent filmmaker Shameem Akhter.

Actress Bonna Mirza said, “Women-oriented content is being seen on OTT platforms in Bangladesh. Many are calling them great, extraordinary. But is it correct to evaluate them in this way? Here women's stories are told from a male point of view." Apart from this, other panelists exchanged views with the audience.

In the second phase, Sri Lankan writer and journalist Anuradha Kodagoda presented an essay titled “Beyond Victimization: Exploring Agency and Alternative Representation of Female Subjectivity in Sri Lankan Cinema”. The chairperson of the Department of Mass Communication and Journalism of Dhaka University Kaveri Gayen chaired the discussion. In this session the director from Philippine named Dr. Rebecca Shangquan Chuaunsu and American actress Katerina Khramova discussed on that motion.

In the afternoon session, Belgian documentary maker, independent journalist Anja Strelec presented a paper entitled “Behind the Senses of Empowerment: Filmmaking as a Tool to Combat Genital Mutilation”. Bangladeshi online media Bangla Tribune's cultural editor Sadia Khalid Reeti and Bulgarian female filmmaker Yana Lekarska participated in the discussion of this episode. It was presided over by Professor Kishwar Kamal.

After that, the wide angle session was inaugurated at 5:30 pm at Dhaka National Museum auditorium. The Minister of Social Welfare of the People's Republic of Bangladesh Dr. Dipu Mani was present in this function. This time the focus country of this episode is on China. A question and answer session was held after the screening of two Chinese films at the festival.