ITI Salma, a popular Bangla short film that was screened at the Public Library auditorium in Dhaka last December at the 7th International Short and Independent Film Festival, leaves the city for Guanajuato of Mexico to take part in a short film festival that begins from July 25. A.K.M. Zakaria, a member of Bangladesh Short Film Forum, is the director of 'Iti Salma'.
'Iti Salma' is a film of 8-minute duration that reveals, without any dialogue, a tragic situation of a broken family where Salma, the frustrated and bored housewife leaves her husband and the family behind, in search of a new life, one of freedom and independence. Torn bits and pieces of a letter that Salma had written to her husband lies strewn across the carpeted floor of the living room. At a final moment before her departure, Salma decides not to mention anything harsh to the innocent person, whom she always loved yet failed to compromise at the end. The empty room receives gusts of wind through the open window while a telephone rings without being picked up. The concluding episode of the story of a middle class Bengali family becomes dramatic, probably more due to a tensed and seemingly unending ringing tone of the telephone.
Titled as 'Expression En Corto' or 'The International Film Festival, In Short Expression 2002', the festival presents films of short length from across the world in several categories like 'Short Fiction and Short Animation', 'Short Film and Professional Digital', 'Short Film Video' (any format) and 'Documentary' (Mexican productions in 35 mm or 16 mm or digital professional format). A special category that of exhibition gets included in the festival from where the films are to be screened with non-competitive attitude and the productions could be of feature length, retrospective, photograph installation art and performance, etc. The objective of 'The International Film Festival, In Short Expression 2002' is to offer more opportunities for the exhibition of short films and documentaries, rewarding the quality of these films with materials and equipment so as to continue with the task of making movies. The festival aims in bringing together world experts in the short film business, as well as novices and those who are interested in seeing quality film and knowing more about those.
The selection of the works would be of competence of the organization of the festival by means of an International Jury, made up of professionals in the movie media.
The International Film Festival In Short Expression 2002, gives each one of the participants in the competitive section, a Diploma, and the winners receive prizes in material and trophies.
The Mexican festival ends on July 28.
Later this year, 'Iti Salma' leaves for Pakistan to be accompanied by 'Kalighar', another Bangladeshi short film, to take part in the 2nd Kara
International Film Festival'. The Karachi fest starts from September 2. Tareque Shahriar, as director of 'Kalighar', joins Zakaria on the trip.
'Kalighar' is a film that comprises of a setting, one of a dirty and cosy environment, inside a small factory where under aged children work almost round the clock to earn a square meal. Black soot, smoke and the overall unhygienic environment pose as intense threat to the young labourers who find no other option but to carry on with the job. Childrens' rights in our society are nothing more than a daydream, exactly what the theme of this film wants to transmit to the audience.
Organized under the aegis of the Independent Film Forum, a grouping of committed young filmmakers, the Kara Film Festival is a celebration of the moving image and of storytelling. The organisers' goal is to promote an appreciation of the art and craft of filmmaking among a wide population as well as to encourage creativity and high standards among filmmakers.
The festival ends on September 8.