Diplomats take part in lively film discussion

Seven European ambassadors and diplomats discussed about films of their own countries in virtual discussion title 'Grand Film Adda' on 22 June, 2021
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Daniel Rai was detained by the IS militants in 2013 while working on the conflicts in Syria and people’s sufferings due to this. After 398 days of confinement, the Danish photographer was released from there with a ransom.

Later, Daniel wrote a book about those days of miseries while in confinement in Syria. The movie “Daniel” is adapted from this book.

Estrup Petersen, Danish ambassador to Dhaka, discussed this film on Tuesday in a virtual discussion titled “Grand Film Adda”. Ambassadors and diplomats from seven European countries took part in the virtual discussion where each of them discussed a specific film of their respective countries.

Posters of 'Daniel' and 'Fire will come'
Collected

These films will be exhibited at the Bangladesh European Union Film Festival (BEUFF). The European Union (EU) has organised the festival, the first of its kind in Dhaka in the last 20 years organised by the EU embassy.

The virtual discussion – "Grand Film Adda'' on Tuesday was a special arrangement of the BEUFF. The programme was live streamed from European Union’s (EU) Facebook page, Facebook page of the festival and Prothom Alo’s Facebook page and YouTube channel. The discussion was held with the assistance of Prothom Alo.

At the beginning of the discussion, a promotional video of the 21-day festival was shown. Rensje Teerink, ambassador of the EU to Bangladesh, said as of now, the festival is a success and it went beyond his expectation. This time, the festival is highlighting on the Bangladeshi and European films. As the movies will be shown with Bangla subtitles at the festival, it will reach a larger Bangladeshi audience.

Prothom Alo’s managing editor Sajjad Sharif said, “We've seen that our people are quite enthusiastic about global issues and they are liberal enough to accept any global initiative. We got involved with this initiative as we want to patronise individual creativity.”

Harry Verweij, ambassador of the Netherlands to Bangladesh, spoke on the Dutch movie “Romy’s Salon” released in 2019. He highlighted people's emotion and the relational conflicts while discussing the main character of the film, who is an Alzheimer patient.

Italian ambassador Enrico Nunziata discussed the film “My brother chases dinosaurs”. In the film, the director sheds light on the dilemma in the Italian society regarding Down syndrome through comedy.

Spanish ambassador Benitez Salas discussed a movie named “Fire will come”. Wildfire is the subject of the film. Wildfire does not always originate naturally. Sometimes the wildfire is created artificially for the benefit of someone or a vested quarter.

Christine Johansson, charge d'affaires of the Swedish embassy, discussed the movie “Sami blood”. The movie highlights on the lives of Sami people, an ethnic minority community.

Olivier Dintinger, director of Alliance Française de Dhaka, discussed the French film “Perfume”. Goethe-Institut Bangladesh’s director Kirsten Hackenbroch talked about a film on a violin teacher.

The programme was conducted by film critic Sadia Khalid Reeti. Director general of the foreign ministry (West Europe), Faiyaz Murshid Quazi also addressed the event.