The 16th Dhaka International Film Festival (DIFF) will be held in Dhaka from 12 to 20 January 2018.

The Festival will be organized on a regular basis by Rainbow Film Society with the theme on ‘Better Film, Better Audience and Better Society’.

Festival Director of the Dhaka international film festival and President of Rainbow Film Society Ahmed Mujtaba Jamal informed ‘Necessary preparatory work in this regard is already underway. During the 16th DIFF, 170 films from 60 countries will be screened. The festival will feature Asian cinema competition, retrospective, Bangladesh panorama, cinema of the world, children’s film, women filmmakers, short and independent films section and spiritual films section.’

Ahmed Muztaba Zamal said, ‘We are expecting numbers of woman filmmakers, actors and personalities from all over the world for attending our very important segment- ‘Fourth Dhaka International Conference on Women in Cinema 2018’ just like the previous years. This will be organized by Rainbow Film Society in association with the Department of Women and Gender Studies, University of Dhaka. This will be held at the Gallery of the Alliance Francaise de Dhaka on 13 and 14 January, 2018 during the festival.’

‘In order to educate future film activists International Film Critics Association of Bangladesh - IFCAB and Pathshala South Asian Media Institute is going to organize the ‘8th Dhaka Cine Workshop’ from January 5 to 20, 2018. This is a parallel event designed to utilize the ambiance, resource and coming together of cine professionals as well as creative talents, old and new. The Workshop will be an intensive two week-long activity with creative professionals from diverse fields of the film industry as speakers and moderators,’ Muztaba Zamal added, reports the UNB.

He also added ‘This year Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique -FIPRESCI confirms to organize the 1st Asian Film Critics Assembly - AFCA between 15-16 January 2018 in the upcoming DIFF in association with the International Film Critics Association of Bangladesh – IFCAB,  main responsibility of which in this collaboration will be to bring together Asian film critics in order to communicate, share their professional experiences and opinions on cinema and discuss the general situation of film criticism in Asia. FIPRESCI aims to establish better and closer relations between film critics in Asia and create a tighter network for further collaborations.’

The organisation has been arranging the festival of the promotion of a healthy cine culture in Bangladesh and in celebrating the global mainstream in film and its social relevance since 1977.