DHAKA, Jan 7, 2025 (BSS) – The Ministry of Cultural Affairs has taken initiatives to make workshop-based films with eight filmmakers in eight divisional headquarters for the development and decentralization of culture.

They filmmakers are: Anam Biswas, Humaira Bilkis, Nuhash Humayun, Shankha Dasgupta, Shaheen Dil Riaz, Rabiul Alam Robi, Tasmiyah Afrin Mou, and Mohammad Tawkir Islam.

Cultural Affairs Adviser Mostofa Sarwar Farooki hoped that many of the young people, who would emerge from the workshop, will one day become successful filmmakers.

Mentioning that this initiative of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs will be continued, he said, “We believe that many more renowned filmmakers of the country will engage with this initiative in the coming years.”

Ministry sources said that the creative young generation from and outside Dhaka will engage them in the filmmaking process, and will gain skills in filmmaking by participating at the workshops to be conducted by the renowned and talented filmmakers of the country.

In continuation of this, the selected eight filmmakers taking the new and trained filmmakers with them will make eight medium-length films from eight divisional cities this year. 

Earlier, a search committee was formed last December by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs.

The aim of this search committee was to select eight filmmakers who will conduct film workshops in eight divisional cities in 2025 and make eight films with the young people trained in the workshops.

To select these eight filmmakers, the search committee met in three offline and multiple online meetings in the last two months. The committee members proposed the names of trainer-filmmakers keeping various issues in mind.

From those proposals, a list of 16 people was prepared and the committee members completed initial discussions with them. Based on that name of eight filmmakers was finalized, considering the busyness, interest, gender, work style, and overall portfolio of the filmmakers.
 
Through this initiative, the Ministry of Cultural Affairs wants to achieve two goals. Firstly, they want to create a bridge between the interested young people in and outside Dhaka with the filmmaking process as well as to provide them an opportunity to build their skills and evolve their talents.

Secondly, it also aims to utilize the knowledge and skill of the trained young people in filmmaking with their trainers.

The adviser said they are expecting to see an artistic visualization of the bloody July mass uprising in these films as the people of Bangladesh are now breathing freely.

He hoped that these workshops and the filmmaking process will connect a large population outside Dhaka to this artistic process and will provide a new interpretation of artistic culture through films in this post-revolutionary era.