Prof. Dr Raju appointed member of the newly formed Bangladesh Film Certification Board

Prof. Dr Zakir Hossain Raju, Head of the Department of Media and Communication at Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB), has been appointed as a member of the newly formed Bangladesh Film Certification Board.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting issued a gazette notification on September 22, 2024 revealing the new 15-member certification board committee under the Bangladesh Film Certification Act 2023. This, in effect, abolished the previous film censor board.

Dr Raju, an independent filmmaker and renowned film researcher, is one of the eight expert members on the 15-member board. The other expert members are Kazi Hayat; Khijir Hayat Khan; Quazi Nawshaba Ahmed; Tasmiah Afrin Mou; Rafiqul Anowar Russell; Zahid Hossain, and Iqbal Ehsanul Kabir. Six out of the other seven members of the board are government officials serving in ex-officio capacities.

The newly formed certification board is tasked with evaluating films (produced at home and imported from abroad) for different audiences, certifying them with appropriate ratings (using symbols such as U, G, PG, M, 18+, etc.). It ensures artistic integrity by certifying films without altering their content, while guiding cinema screening times accordingly.

Dr Raju, who is also the Director of the King Sejong Institute at IUB, is the author of the widely acclaimed Routledge publication Bangladesh Cinema and National Identity, the first ever research-based monograph on the Bangladeshi film industry. In 2004, he became the first Bangladeshi to earn a PhD in film studies.

He previously chaired the Netpac jury for the Asian Film Competition at the 80th Venice International Film Festival in 2023, and the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2015 and 2020. He is the current Vice President of International Film Initiative of Bangladesh and a former president of the Bangladesh Short Film Forum.