The Dhaka International Mobile Film Festival conducted a six-day CDST (community digital storytelling) Filmmaking Workshop with the ethnic Munda community in Shyamnagar of Satkhira
The workshop, the first of its kind in Shyamnagar, provided the opportunity for participants from the Munda community to understand and appreciate the process of telling their stories with a smartphone.
This mobile filmmaking workshop solely focused on climate change and its aftermath in Munda’s life. Ten participants from the Munda Community joined the workshop that started on 23 January.
The workshop was a part of the “Community Digital Storytelling and Delta Futures in India, Bangladesh and Vietnam” project organized by Angelos Theocharis and funded by the UKRI GCRF Living Deltas Hub and the Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience (IHRR) at Durham University.
The present workshops were conducted in collaboration with the Dhaka International Mobile Film Festival (DIMFF), the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB), and PROGOTI (People’s Research on Grassroots Ownership & Traditional Initiative).
Global warming is real and rapid climate change is the effect of it. At the workshop, participants tried to cover various problems and how those affects the Munda community in the long run.
In those diverge topics, they talked about the tiger widow, child marriage, culture and language, job crisis and alternative solutions and sufferings of displacements. Through their stories, they display the sufferings and sacrifices the Munda community bears, the threat of child marriage overshadows the happiness of the conjugal lives and the importance of keeping their heritage intact.
Besides, through this workshop, they have gathered the basic knowledge of filmmaking, which will help them find their voice on a broader scale.
From DIMFF, advisor Abdul Kabil Khan and executive advisor Syeda Sadia Mehjabin were the facilitators and assistant professor Abdul Kader and senior lecturer Muhammad Aminuzzaman from ULAB were the coordinators of the workshop. From PROGOTI, Ashek-e- Elahi acted as the coordinator from the local side.
The closing ceremony of the workshop was held in Shyamnagar on 28 January.
The event began with a brief introduction to the research project, followed by screening the participants’ projects.
Head of ULAB’ Media Studies and Journalism department Jude William Genilo and project researcher Angelos Theocharis from Durham University sent Thank You message to the participants.
At the event, participants showcased their films in front of the audience and those films vividly depicts their everyday lives and struggles for survival fighting against nature.
Chairman of Burighoalini union parishad Bhobotosh Kumar Mondol, founder of Initiative for Coastal Development Asikuzzaman Asik, founder of PROGOTI Ashek-e- Elahi were also present at the programme.