BFDC loses opportunity to attend Cannes’ Marché du Film

For the first time in the history of the Cannes Film Festival, a stall from Bangladesh was allocated at the event's 76th edition. The booth was booked under the name of Bangladesh Film Development Corporation (BFDC), however, from the first day till now, the stall has remained empty.

Being the first ever stall at the festival, it was expected to be a gateway to the country's cinema and culture—with discussions and exchanges of thoughts between journalists and stars—but until now, no significant buzz has been created by the Bangladeshi contingent as of yet. 

In fact, there was a lot of confusion about whether any of the representatives from BFDC would be there at the festival's booth.

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Bangladeshi stall struggling at Cannes Film Festival?

Earlier, on May17, it was reported that Nipun Akter and Zayed Khan were supposed to attend the festival on behalf of the BFDC, as attendees. However, Zayed Khan told The Daily Star that he had no knowledge of the matter. He even told The Daily Star, "I don't know much about it, I had heard about it from news portals, but nothing official was announced about our involvement."

Nipun also told The Daily Star, that she is not going either, even though she heard of such plans before.

Government approval (signed on May 22) for participation at the 76th Cannes Film Festival.

Now, according to a reliable source from inside the BFDC—who did not want to disclose their identity—informed The Daily Star today that the Embassy of France had rejected the visa applications of the representatives of BFDC. The representatives from the BFDC who had applied for the visa were Managing Director (BFDC) Nuzhat Yasmin; Additional Director, BFDC Md Rafiqul Islam; Assistant Director, (BFDC) A K M Aminul Karim Khan; film producer and director M M R Gulzar; actors Zayed Khan and Nasrin Akter (Nipun Akter).

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Bangladesh takes first ever stall at Cannes

Reportedly, complications over receiving the permission order from the government had delayed representatives from applying for the visa. Later, with the special initiative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and with the arrangement by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting they faced the embassy.

In fact, the anonymous source also shared that tonight at 9:40 pm, they were supposed to fly by Emirates Airlines, as they were supposed to receive the visa by 3 pm in the afternoon today (May 23).

When they went to collect their passports from the embassy, they were told that none of their visas had been approved, due to a 'shortage of time'. This information was also confirmed by Zayed Khan himself to several media outlets. By the time they would reach the Cannes' venue, the Marché du Film (Film Market) would be closed.

While they might have missed out on this tremendous opportunity this year, perhaps this will be learning moment for BFDC to be better prepped for next year's version of the event.