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Swapnadanay wins jury award
Cultural Correspondent
Swapnadanay, a full-length feature film by Golam Rabbany Biplob won the special jury award at the 38th Goa International Film Festival.
The organisers handed away a crest and a cash prize of Rs 2.5 lakh to the director through a colourful programme on December 3, held at Goa in India.
More than two hundreds films from 14 countries participated at the festival which kicked off on November 23.
The film will also be screened at the 80th Academy Award in the foreign language category.
The plot of the play revolves around Fazlu-- a hawker in the Barendra area who somehow manages to keep his family happy, selling ointments and by playing tricks in the local fairs. His ten year old son assists him in these businesses. The plot takes a sudden turn when the protagonist finds some foreign currency from a second hand trouser bought for his son.
Different roles are played by Mahmuduzzaman Babu, Fazlur Rahman Babu, Rokeya Prachy, Momena Chowdhury, Shamima Islam, Ratan, Soma, Golam Rasul, Shah Alam Kiran and others.
The film has been produced and sponsored by the Impress Telefilm Ltd and Banglalink respectively.
Biplob grabbed the best director award at the 10th Shanghai International Film Festival in last June. He received the award in the Asian New Talent Award category for his clear thoughts and the spirited story-telling.
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The story behind Picasso's Guernica
Rafique-um-Munir Chowdhury
Guernica is a small town in the Basque country of northern Spain, and is considered the cultural capital of the Basque people since time immemorial.
It had no strategic value as a military target. However, on April 26, 1937, Guernica was virtually destroyed by the Condor Legion (an adjunct of the Luftwaffe), part of the aerial force of Hitler's Nazi Germany. The attack lasted for over 4 hours in what is now known as the first comprehensive aerial attack on civilian population.
The bombing took during the Spanish Civil War, after Francisco Franco personally asked Adolph Hitler to help terrorize and demoralize the civilian population of the Republic side.
The Nazi's agreed and used the experience as preparation for their infamous bombing raids of World War II.
It killed hundreds of people and the town was completely destroyed. Pablo Picasso, was in Paris then, and came to kmow about the news from the radio and press, and decided to dedicate the mural for the pavilion to the tragedy of Guernica.
At the same time, his friend, the French surrealist poet Paul Eluard, wrote the poem 'the Victory of Guernica' which, like the painting, would occupy one of the walls of the pavilion.
Barely two months after the military uprising and the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, Pablo Picasso, aged fifty-four, and at the height of his artistic maturity and success, was named honorary director of the Prado Museum in Madrid.
Shortly afterward, in January of 1937, the government of the Spanish Republic commissioned him to paint a large mural for the Spanish Pavilion at the International Exposition in Paris.
The historical context of the work would be the Spanish Civil War and it gave Picasso the opportunity to put a message through.
However, Picasso did not have the clear picture of the canvas that he was going to paint. In the course of thirty-five days, in addition to a series of several sketches, he produced a monochrome painting of large dimensions which would come to be known throughout the world as Guernica, his masterpiece: "The German planes - Condor Legion - the bombardment of the Basque town of Guernica, at a market day, at 3'O clock in the afternoon, in collaboration with the Spanish national forces”
Between July 12 and November 25, Guernica was exhibited at the Spanish Pavilion of the International Exposition in Paris, where it was viewed by multitudes, and after the exposition closed, it began a voyage that would last for more than forty years.
The mural was exhibited in more than 50 different places around the world between 1937 and 1957, including Brazil, Germany and the United States.
After Franco won the civil war and established a dictatorship, in 1944 Picasso entrusted the work to the Museum of Modern Art of New York until civil liberties were reestablished in Spain.
During the Vietnam War, the room housing Guernica at the MoMA became the site of occasional anti-war vigils.
After 1958, the painting no longer traveled and stayed at MoMA. Franco died in 1975, two years after Picasso, and in 1981 the painting arrived in newly democratic Spain where it was housed first in an annex of Madrid's Prado Museum before being moved to the Reina Sofia, which is named after Spain's current queen.
For many Basques, Guernica is an important symbol of their national identity as the town is considered the centre of their cultural traditions.
The town was once home to an oak tree which the Spanish kings would stand under and vow to respect an ancient code giving the independent-minded Basque's special rights. The tree survived the bombing but died during a heat wave in 2003 and was replaced two years later.
The 70th anniversary of the bombing has also led to a renewed call for Picasso's painting to be put on display in the town of Guernica.
Museum directors and the central government in Madrid turned down the request, saying the painting was too fragile to be moved.
Basque government officials said they would now try to have the painting moved to Guernica in time for the 75th anniversary of the attack.
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Shoeb wins Francesco Forno award
Cultural Correspondent
Freelance photo-grapher Shoeb Faruquee won the first prize at Francesco Forno, an international photographic competition, held in October in Italy.
He received the award for his photo titled Twilight in The Man and the Sea category of the competition.
The award-giving ceremony was held in November and the photographer was invited as special guest at the programme.
Shoeb received a bronze trophy, a gold medal from the Federation of International Art Photography and a gold medal from the Federation of Italian Art Photography as prizes.
The photographer also won 19 international awards in 2007. The prizes include FIAP gold medal at Hellas 1st International Digital Photography Competition, Athens, second prizes at WHO International Photo Contest, Switzerland, FIAP bronze medal at International Photography Competition in Turkey and gold medal at Venice International Photo Contest and gold medal at Trierenberg Super Circuit in Austria.
Shoeb also won the second prize in the 48th World Press Photo 2005 contest for his entry titled 'Patient at mental hospital in Bangladesh.'
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CHT cultural festival ends
Cultural Correspondent
A two-day CHT Cultural Festival 2007 featuring indigenous handicrafts, paintings and photographs ended at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre in the city on Saturday.
The United Nations Development Programme in association with the European Union organised the festival titled 'Experience and celebrate the indigenous culture of the CHT'.
The organisers set up 50 stalls at the festival and displayed indigenous handicrafts, including handloom weaving, jewellery and various other artefacts. Agriculture products, ethnic clothes and foods were also available at the stalls.
Some paintings and photographs were also on display. The artists portray the culture of the hilly people through their works.
Members of tribal communities, including Chakma, Marma, Khumi, Bom, Mro and others participated at the festival.
Artistes from indigenous communities living in Rangamati, Khagrachhari and Bandarban presented a colourful cultural programme featuring traditional song and dance. A film titled The Pulsating Hills was also screened at the festival.
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Concert for Sidr victims
Cultural Correspondent
To raise fund for the victims of Sidr, a day-long musical show will be held at Kamalapur Stadium in the city on December 7.
Popular band groups including Nagar Baul, Miles, LRB, Warfaze, Aurthohin and Black and noted singers - Azam Khan, Hyder Husyn - will perform at the show, said the organisers at a briefing on Monday.
Carnival, Channel-i, Radio Today and amadergaan.com joined hands with the Banglalink to make the programme a success.
Proceeds from the show will be donated to the chief adviser's relief fund.
Senior manager, PR and Communications of Banglalink, Solaiman Alam, executive director of Radio Today, Shakil Manzur, producer of Channel-i, Hasan Abidur Reza Jewel, Sheikh Monirul Alam, Ayub Bachchhu, Hamin Ahmed and Hyder Husyn addressed the press.
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Ananda Alo stands by Rani Sarkar
Cultural Correspondent
Ananda Alo, a fortnightly, has stood by veteran actress Rani Sarkar, who has been leading a miserable life at Mohammadpur in the city.
The magazine, after a report on the actress on Channel-i, has decided to provide her with Tk 10,000 every month as long as she survives. A five-member team of the magazine, led by joint editor Habibul Huda, handed over the money for the month of December to Rani on November 28.
Besides, LabAid also extended their supports to the artiste. LabAid will provide her with free treatment till her death, said a press release. Rani performed in many super-hit films, including Chanda, Talash, Kancher Dewal, Sutarang.
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Iran cracks down on 'obscene' rap music
Agence France-Presse, Tehran
Iran on Thursday said that it planned to launch a crackdown on rap music, complaining that the words used by rap artists were 'obscene', the state IRNA news agency reported.
'There is nothing wrong with this type of music in itself', the official for evaluation of music at the Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry, Mohammad Dashtgoli, was quoted as saying.
'But due to the use of obscene words by its singers this music has been categorised as illegal', he said.
'In coordination with the police, illegal studios producing this type of music will be sealed and the singers in this genre will be confronted', he said.
Dashtgoli said a large number of illegal rap singers have been already identified.
The Islamic republic's hardline officials have repeatedly complained about a 'cultural invasion' by 'decadent' western music which they believe diminishes Islamic values.
The culture ministry official expressed his frustration that rap artists were finding low-cost ways to publish their music on the Internet. 'We should find a solution for this'.
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