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With a view to promoting quality films, Banglalink, a mobile operator company has come forward and signed an agreement with Impress Telefilm Ltd. Banglalink will sponsor all the films produced by the channel in the coming year.
   A press conference organised by Impress Telefilm Ltd was held at the Sheraton Hotel on Thursday. Faridur Reza Sagar, managing director of Impress Telefilm Ltd, Shahed Jubayer, senior manager, public relations and communications, of Banglalink, well-known filmmakers Chashi Nazrul Islam and Amjad Hossain were present and spoke on the subject.
   Sagar in his speech stated, ‘We have come into the field of filmmaking in 2002. Eighteen feature films have been released so far and ten more films are waiting to be released. To make quality films we, on behalf of the company, have already talked to renowned filmmakers for taking more effective measures which would play a pivotal role in boosting our film industry.’
   ‘Our productions have participated at twelve international film festivals including the Oscars and have been able to win awards in many categories. Being inspired by our success Banglalink has come forward to be the title sponsor of our productions for the whole of next year,’ he added.
   Shahed said, ‘We have signed an agreement hoping to promote more quality films and in this connection Impress Telefilm Ltd has already earned a niche in the field of film making.’ Citing an example he added, ‘Shaymal Chhaya, a film based on our glorious war of independence by Humayun Ahmed and produced by Impress Telefilm Ltd has gone for the Academy Awards to compete in the foreign language film category.’
   Chashi stated, ‘It is encouraging for our film industry that Banglalink has taken a step to patronise in this field. ‘In the recent past I observed that many positive initiatives taken by filmmakers were failures as they did not get enough financial support. I congratulate both the party for taking such a step which will definitely enrich our culture.’

The curtain on the nine-day 9th International Short & Independent Film Festival will fall today. The closing ceremony will be held at 6:30pm at the Shaukat Osman Auditorium of the Central Public Library in the city.
   The Bangladesh Short Film Forum will declare and distribute the Tareque Shahriar Best Independent Short Award for the best filmmaker in the category of Independent Shorts of the festival. The forum will also honour veteran filmmaker and cinematographer Baby Islam with the Hiralal Swarak Sanmanana.
   Some selected films from the festival will also be screened at the closing ceremony.
   Today’s screening will begin at 11:00am at the Central Public Library. The organisers will screen Giri Song, (documentary, 29 minutes), director: Vasudha Joshi, India; The Impostor, (fiction, 28 minutes), director: Hanna Anderson, Sweden; My Childhood as a Dream, (animation, eight minutes), director: Mohammadreza Maktabi and Here I Lie, (fiction, 10 minutes), Sweden/UK.
   Death in the Garden of Paradise, (documentary, 21 minutes), director: Nurjahan Akhlaq, Pakistan/Canada; A Family, (fiction, 28 minutes and 30 seconds), director: Goran Kapetanovic; Bhramyaman Galpakar, (experimental, one minutes and 30 seconds), director: Rahul Anand, Bangladesh; King of Fools, (animation, nine minutes), director: Oiaf Encke, Germany and Post Partum, (documentary/experimental, 10 minutes), director: Marie Josee Piepre, Canada will be screened at 3:00pm.
   Alone Together, (15 minutes), UK; Children of Paradise, (independent shorts, five minutes), director: Zahirul Islam, Bangladesh; The Wet Corner of The Street, (fiction, seven minutes), director: Payam Azizi, Iran; One More Choice, (fiction, 10 minutes), director: Marta Ferencova, Slovakia; Win Mawoo, (documentary, four minutes and 44 seconds), director: Amar Kanwar, India; Balikar Gollachhut, (independent shorts, 52 seconds), director: Rubaiyat Hossain, We Use to be 11, (animation, five minutes), director: Iveta Grotova, Slovakia and Life, (fiction, nine minutes and 15 seconds), director: Anel Zylbersztejn, Mexico will be screened at 5:00pm on the day.

Theatre group Swapnadal will present Padmagokhro, based on Kazi Nazrul Islam’s short story of the same title, at 6:30pm today.
   The play is scripted and directed by Zahid Ripon. Using the image of the snake Padmagokhro, the play presents how the greed of human beings breaks the harmony in society. The play also upholds the universal appeal of motherhood and highlights humanity.
   According to the director, he has researched on the traditional folk elements and used them in the play.
   Besides the director, Dhrubak Mazhar and Mahmud Jisan have designed the set and Fazle Rabbi Sukarna has worked for lighting. Along with Sajida Parul, the director has also choreographed the play.
   Rawnak Labani, Monir Hossain, Smaranika Ahmed, Mohammad Salauddin, Hasan Rezaul and others were among the cast.

BTV will air Sisimpur at 9:05am today. In this week’s episode Halum, Shiku, Ikri, and Tuktuki go off to the sea beach in Shiku’s imaginary car. The viewers will learn about noise pollution through an animation segment about cars and honking. A young boy from Tangail takes us to meet his friends and join them for a picnic in the village. In this episode the letter of the day is ‘Go’ and the number of the day is ‘Zero’. Also in this episode we will see Halum and Shiku learn to cooperate and pick mangoes from the tree and Toma and her friend from Jessore makes lovely mud dolls and fruits.

Non-stop action as a group of heroic fighters must battle an unearthly warlord and his army of treacherous killers to save the earth. This bold new sequel to the original blockbuster hit is full of spectacular martial arts battles and stunning special effects.
   When Shao Khan (Thompson - Perfect Target), warlord leader of the Outworld rips a portal in the fabric of the universe between the Outworld and Earth, Mortal Kombat champion Liu Kang (Shou - Beverly Hills Ninja), and Kitana (Soto - The Corporate Ladder), the beautiful ten thousand year old princess from another dimension, team up with three other heroes to take on the evil sorcerer and his barrage of deadly fighters and terrifying creatures sent to kill them.
   Mortal Kombat Annihilation
   HBO
   9:30pm
   Starring
   Robin Shou, Brian Thompson, Talisa Soto