‘Utshob’ leads DIFF day two’s global lineup

The 24th Dhaka International Film Festival (DIFF) rolled into its second day on Sunday with a packed slate of international films across multiple venues in the capital. Running from January 10 to 18, the nine-day festival is screening 245 films from 91 countries, making it one of the largest global film showcases in Bangladesh.

The festival opened on Saturday evening at the Bangladesh National Museum with Adviser for Information and Broadcasting Syeda Rizwana Hasan as the chief guest. After cultural performances and speeches, the opening film, Chinese director Chen Xiang’s “The Journey to No End”, set the tone for a week of world cinema.

Sunday’s programme began at the National Museum’s main auditorium with “The Impeccable Times of Pablo” (Cuba) and “Wreck” (Bosnia and Herzegovina). Later screenings included Belgium’s “Not Alone” and China’s “My Father’s Son”. A special block of short films followed, featuring Bangladeshi titles “Colours of Hope”, “In Another World”, “Prottyaborton”, “Mikhail”, “Invisible Wall” and “Maya”, alongside the UK’s “Intimate Objects”. The day ended at the venue with Tanvir Noor’s Bangladeshi film “Utshob”.

At the Sufia Kamal auditorium, audiences watched Iran’s “The Banana Garden”, Argentina’s “For Your Sake”, Tajikistan’s “Voices of the Mountains” and China’s “Quingtong and Kaihua”.

The National Art Gallery auditorium at Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy screened India’s “Azar”, the Philippines’ “This Place”, the Czech Republic’s “Rainbow’s Tale” and Singapore’s “Al Awda”.

Alliance Française de Dhaka hosted three shows: Sri Lanka’s “Pantram” in the morning, “This Place” in the afternoon and Tajikistan’s “Fish on the Hook” in the evening.

At Stamford University Bangladesh’s Siddeshwari campus, films included Papua New Guinea’s “Papa Buka”, Russia’s “The Letter”, China’s “The Shore of Life” and Iran’s “The Banana Garden”.

With free entry and screenings spread across the city, DIFF continues to turn Dhaka into a meeting point for global cinema, drawing audiences into stories from every corner of the world.