Film Festival to celebrate indigenous languages

The Martyrs' Day and International Mother Language Day is observed on February 21 every year across the world to promote and celebrate linguistic and cultural diversity. 

Marking the significance of the day, two prestigious organisations, Zahir Raihan Film Institute and the Graphic Arts Institute, Dhaka have joined forces to organise a film festival titled "Matribhashar Chalachitra Utsab", dedicated to distinctive mother languages. The festival will showcase films made in Bengali, Chakma, Marma, and Garo languages of Bangladesh.

Regarding the festival, Zahir Raihan Film Institute's president and dramatist Shankar Shawjal said, "Every year, we organise various events to commemorate the sacrifice of the language martyrs. Although Bangla is the national language of Bangladesh, various indigenous groups have their mother tongues."

"Through the medium of films, we want to show respect to the mother languages of indigenous people. The number of people speaking minority languages is decreasing every year in Bangladesh. Therefore, it is essential to embrace all other languages alongside Bangla," Shankar continued.

"This year, the film festival will begin in a smaller setting. We will strive to make this festival bigger every year. We encourage and support the production of films in the languages of the small ethnic groups residing in the hills and plains," the president of the film society added.

Director Pradip Ghosh, another official of Zahir Raihan Film Institute, said, "As Bangalees, we know how significant mother language can be to a nation and people's identity and sovereignty. Therefore, we must be sincere to all other languages besides Bangla."

"Although the festival this year has been arranged in a relatively smaller setting, we will encourage all the indigenous filmmakers who have made films in distinctive languages to come forward and join this festival. We will try our best to assist them," Pradip Ghosh added.

The festival's inauguration programme is scheduled to take place at the Graphic Arts Institute Auditorium at 3pm on Wednesday. After its official inauguration, a discussion and film screening will be organised.

 Ali Akbar Khan, Chairman of the Bangladesh Technical Education Board, will be present as the chief guest at the event. Mrinmoy Chakraborty, Director of the Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre, on behalf of the Indian High Commission, will be a special guest at the event. The discussion will be moderated by Niher Ronjon Das, Chairman of the Graphic Arts Institute.