The 13th edition of Liberation DocFest Bangladesh will open in Dhaka on 29 October, bringing together 17 documentary films from Bangladesh and around the world for a three-day celebration of documentary cinema, freedom and human rights.
The festival will run until 31 October at the Liberation War Museum in Agargaon. This year’s theme, ‘Presence in Absence’, will guide a programme featuring films selected for the National and International Competition sections, alongside a ‘Best of the Fest’ category.
Organisers said the festival aims to promote documentary filmmaking on freedom and human rights, connect Bangladeshi filmmakers with international practitioners and encourage a new generation to explore the genre.
To strengthen young people’s involvement, 35 university students have been selected to work as volunteers.
The festival received 188 submissions from different countries. An eight-member preview committee selected 17 films for screening.
The selected films are grouped around themes including ‘Bodies and Belonging’, ‘Gender Equality and Resistance’, ‘Resistance and Reform’, ‘Generational Memory’, ‘Displacement and Statelessness’, ‘1971: Living Archives’, ‘Ecology in Crisis’ and ‘Ancestral Roots and Livelihoods’.
The National and International Competition sections will each award one film a prize of Tk100,000. A nine-member Youth Jury will also select a film from the perspective of younger viewers.
The winning film will receive a crest and certificate.
Filmmaker Shabnam Ferdousi, visual artist and filmmaker Dilara Begum, and Sajjad Hossain, a teacher at the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh, will serve on the National Competition jury.
The International Competition jury will comprise cultural figure M Hamid, filmmaker Shameem Akhtar and human rights activist Asif Munier.
Alongside the screenings, the festival will host a seminar on connecting younger generations with the history and memory of the Liberation War.
The discussion will explore the possibilities and practical challenges of using documentary filmmaking for classroom assignments in higher education. It will take place at 4pm on 30 October in the museum’s seminar room.
Liberation DocFest Bangladesh began in 2006 with the aim of using documentary cinema to highlight people’s struggles for freedom and the protection of human rights around the world.
