Dhaka DocLab 2022 begins

The 6th edition of Dhaka DocLab, a workshop and pitching forum for Asian documentary filmmakers, commenced on August 22.

State Minister of Cultural Affairs K M Khalid was present as the chief guest at the opening ceremony of the workshop. Eminent cultural personality and Trustee of Liberation War Museum Asaduzzaman Noor was present as a special guest.

Chairman of the Dhaka Doclab and eminent filmmaker Nasiruddin Yusuf Bachchu gave the welcome speech in the programme. Director of Doc Lab Tarek Ahmed and Founder of Documentary Resource Initiative of India Nilotpal Majumder also delivered speeches.

The opening ceremony was followed by the screening of ‘Hridoy Basat’ directed by Indian filmmaker Sankhajit Biswas. The documentary follows the transitioning of a trans woman, as she navigates complicated relationships.

A masterclass on “Archives of Time” by Albert Elings, filmmaker/editor from the Netherlands, was held yesterday (August 24) at 5 pm at the Liberation War Museum in Agargaon, Dhaka. Albert Elings is interested in the aesthetics of temporality and therefore often works with found footage. He talked about different strategies of working with various archival film materials to create documentary films, by showing fragments of films he either directed or edited.

Organized in a hybrid format, this year’s Dhaka DocLab is divided into 3 phases. The first phase from August 18-25 is the workshop. Later, on September 5-6, the workshop projects will be pitched online. The event will conclude with the award ceremony on September 10.