First BIMSTEC film festival begins Saturday in Dhaka

The BIMSTEC Secretariat is going to organise the first-ever film festival with the cinemas of the seven member states in an effort to connect people along the Bay of Bengal.

“Cinema is a very powerful medium in connecting people across boundaries,” Secretary General Sumith Nakandala said at a press briefing on Thursday.

The five-day festival beginning from Saturday marks the 20th anniversary of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation or BIMSTEC that connects South Asia with the South East Asia region.

Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand are the members of the grouping which is often criticised for its failure to yield any collective results.

But the secretary general pointed out it took time for the regional groupings such as the European Union to be successful.

“We need to be patient, objective and imaginative,” he said, adding that they are working on an action plan that leaders of the member states set in a retreat in Goa last year.

People-to-people contact is one of the key 14 areas of priorities of the BIMSTEC.

“The BIMSTEC member states have rich cultural diversity. In order to promote understanding and deepen the people-to-people contacts, we have decided to organise the first BIMSTEC film festival in Dhaka,” the secretary general said.

The Rainbow Film Society is cooperating with them. Some 16 films – four each from Bangladesh and India, two each from Myanmar, Nepal and Thailand, and one each from Sri Lanka and Bhutan – will be screened at the BIMSTEC Secretariat at Gulshan 2.

Three films will be screened each day. Entry is free. Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu will inaugurate the festival on Saturday. 

Rainbow Film Society President Ahmed Muztaba Zamal, BIMSTEC directors SM Nazmul Hasan, Pankaj Hazarika and Kunzang N Tshering were also present at the press briefing.

On being asked, Nazmul Hasan said BIMSTEC has taken a yearlong programme marking the 20th anniversary of the grouping.

The programmes will end in June next year. Apart from the Secretariat, member states will organise at least two events during this period, he said.