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CELEBRATING LIFE

In Conversation with Rafi Hossain

Robina Rashid Bhuiyan
Celebrating Life, a competition jointly organised by The Daily Star and Standard Chartered Bank, and directed by Rafi Hossain (editor of Showbiz, The Daily Star) and Bitopi Das (Head of Corporate Affairs, Standard Chartered Bank), launched nine years ago in a concerted effort to bring to light artistic endeavors that once received little attention. Today, it has become one of the most widely recognised platforms for young participants seeking to showcase their work. In an interview with The Daily Star, Rafi Hossain, who is also the Celebrating Life Festival Director, describes the journey that sparked this initiative, as well as future plans to steer it in newer directions.
Could you describe the journey of “Celebrating Life" thus far?
Nine years have passed since we began "Celebrating Life," and although it has been a long journey, it feels as though we have begun the other day. We had begun with the same format, highlighting film, photography and songwriting, but it has increased in value over the years. It has been successful, and having sustained for all these years, it has grown into its own brand. The event is open to all, and winners receive a generous prize of 8 lakhs, which is not an opportunity provided by other events nationally.
What has inspired you to begin this?
We had noticed that Bangladesh has many talents in still photography. However, if you notice other photography organisations such as Paatsala, who holds the World Press Photo event every two years, does not allow sole recognition of Bangladeshi photographers as it is an international platform. Bangladeshi photographers are submitting their works abroad and earning accolades for their work, but we wanted to create a platform, within Bangladesh, for Bangladeshis. And as for lyricists, they do not have a platform to demonstrate their talents, which is quite sad, as it requires a certain kind of brilliance to be able to do what they do.
Celebrating Life is the only platform that has not only taken this initiative to highlight talents that were otherwise underappreciated, also seeks to preserve the artistic wealth and traditions of our country through the young participants.
Are the submissions within the competition balanced in all three categories?
I would say that filmmaking is the hardest venture to take up, as it requires a script, cast and other film crew, funding, and so much more. It is also something that requires to be worked on over a lengthy period of time, and so we have not had many film submissions compared to photography and lyric-composing. However, our previous participants in film are attending festivals abroad and are receiving recognition as well, which makes
me immensely proud.
Where to you plan to take Celebrating Life in the future?
We are now looking to increase the prize money if the banks allow it, so that the cash can be used by winning participants for their artistic endeavors. The photo-book publication has also been a good initiative as it showcases their works and also encourages future participants to apply. We renew our contract with the bank every three years, and this time we are planning to redesign some aspects of the competition in order to fulfill our visions better, as well as allow room for growth and innovation in order to make room for the talents in our country. However whatever changes we allow, we must continue with the same goal in mind and to stay true to our brand.