Bangladeshi films earn top honours at Kolkata Film Fest

Two Bangladeshi films received recognition at the fifth World Film Festival in Kolkata, with Piplu R Khan’s Jaya Aar Sharmim winning the Bimal Roy Golden Award for Best Feature Film at the festival’s closing ceremony on Sunday evening.

Filmmaker Makbul Chowdhury’s documentary Mamun: In Praise of Shadows, which focuses on eminent photographer and author Nasir Ali Mamun, received a Jury Mention in the documentary category.

Organised by the Eastern India chapter of the Federation of Film Societies of India (FFSI), the six-day festival was held at Nandan-3 in Kolkata from September 8 to 13.

A total of 38 films were screened at the festival, including 19 features in the competitive section. The lineup featured films from Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Iran, Spain, Germany, Costa Rica, Portugal, Brazil, Venezuela and Uzbekistan.

In the feature film competition, India’s Assamese-language film River Tales, directed by Pankaj Bora, won the Bimal Roy Silver Award for Second Best Feature Film. Sri Lanka’s Panthram received a Jury Mention in the same category.

In the documentary competition, Ranjit Roy’s Dolls Don’t Die: Putulnama won the Harisadhan Dasgupta Golden Award for Best Documentary, while Dip Bhuan’s River Still Flows received the award for Second Best Documentary.