international

The festival was initiated in December 1988 as the first international festival of short films in this entire subcontinent. Both eminent and young filmmakers attended the previous seven editions from Europe , Asia , and America . Among them were eminent Polish director Krzysztof Zanussi and Indian film directors Mrinal Sen, Buddheadev Dasgupta, Gautam Ghose and Aparna Sen. In the last festival, a total of 215 films from 30 countries participated. The festival is now an internationally recognized showcase for latest short and independent films made around the globe.

A major biennial cultural event

The festival has now become a major biennial cultural event of the country, and has been growing in size, stature, and media coverage. The upward trend is expected to continue during the forthcoming 8th festival in terms of audience turnout, coverage in both electronic and print media, and the number of entries and participating countries.

Festival programs

The festival is a nine days long event, and screenings are held simultaneously at four auditoriums in different parts of the city. The main venue is the Central Public Library Auditorium at Shahbagh. The other venues are the National Museum auditorium, British Council auditorium and the Goethe Institute ( German Cultural Center ).

At the main venue, each day there will be four screening sessions, which makes a total of 32 shows, apart from the opening and closing ceremonies. The special sessions and retrospectives - of films by an eminent maker or films on special themes, focus on films from some particular country or period focuses - will be held in the other auditoriums. Each screening is about 90-100 minutes, which includes one short fiction, animation film, documentary and experimental film.

Each show draws an audience of about 400 people at the main venue. In the other venues the number climbs up to over 600. The total turnout in the nine-day-long festival is estimated to be about 25 thousand.

Besides, there will be other sessions at different venues in the city. Focus sessions on Iranian Cinema, Portuguese Cinema, films from Mowelfund Film Institute, Philippines and package session of Satyajit Ray Film Institute's films will also be organized at the Goethe Institut and the National Museum . There will be a Women Session in the festival, which always draws the special attention of the international filmmakers community working with cinema on women issues, and films made by women activists will also be screened there.

An international standard Seminar titled "Alamgir Kabir Memorial Lecture" is also organized during the festival. The earlier editions of the event were very successful with the participation of Filmmakers and critics from all around the globe. This year, eminent Indian Filmmaker and theoretician Mr. Arun Khopka will present the main Seminar Paper for the event.