Filmmaker Raihan Rafi and veteran journalist Alimuzzaman have been selected for this year’s Fazlul Haque Memorial Award, one of Bangladesh’s most respected honours celebrating contributions to cinema and film journalism.
The announcement came Saturday, with the award ceremony set for October 26, commemorating the death anniversary of Fazlul Haque, the visionary often hailed as the father of film journalism in the country.
A trailblazer in his field, Fazlul Haque edited Cinema, Bangladesh’s first magazine dedicated entirely to films and directed ‘President’, the nation’s pioneering children’s film.
To uphold his legacy, his wife, eminent author Rabeya Khatun, established the memorial award in 2004, ensuring that each year, two outstanding contributors, one from cinema and one from film journalism, are recognised with a crest, certificate and cash prize.
“The Fazlul Haque Memorial Award is not just a token of recognition; it’s a tribute to the man who gave our cinema its first journalistic foundation,” said Amirul Islam, general secretary of the award committee.
Over the past two decades, the award has honoured luminaries such as Humayun Ahmed, Chashi Nazrul Islam, Subhash Dutta, Amjad Hossain, Nasiruddin Yousuff, Kohinoor Akhtar Suchanda, Alamgir, Kazi Hayat, Gias Uddin Selim and Mostafa Sarwar Farooki.
This year’s recipients represent two generations of creative voices: Raihan Rafi, whose bold storytelling and box-office success have revitalised contemporary Bangladeshi cinema, and Alimuzzaman, whose lifelong dedication to film journalism has chronicled the country’s cinematic evolution with insight and integrity.
