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Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy has chalked out a four-day cultural show to mark the 13th SAARC Summit. The event including folk songs, modern songs, country song, folk dance, regional dance, instrumental music followed by a dance performance based on the songs by the national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam have started on November 9 and will continue till November 13.
   Besides, a two-day exhibition will also be held at Padma, one of the state guest houses, portraying our traditional dresses, handy-craft and a variety of pithas. The display will be held on November 11 and November 13.
   Local artistes have been trained for long six months to perform in the programme, said Zinnat Barkatullah, director of the Dance Department of the Academy.
   The first day of the event organised for the invited foreign guests was held at the Lake Shore Hotel in the city where renowned Sarad player Shahadat Hossain Khan performed. Maniruzzaman assisted the artiste playing the flute.
   Runa Laila and Shakhila Jaffar will perform at a programme at Hoel Sonargaon in the evening on November 10, which will be organised by the ministry of foreign affairs. Besides, a Manipuri dance will be performed by Begum Sharmila Bandapadhya on the occasion.
   The most attractive programme will be held on November 12 at the Bangladesh China Friendship Centre during the state dinner to be hosted by the Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia. In the beginning of the programme Sabina Yasmin will present the SAARC theme song while Dipa Khandakar will dance with the song.
   Rumjhum, a dance drama based on a song by Kazi Nazrul Islam will also be presented before the VIP guests. After that Shakhila Jaffar and Mahmuduzzaman Babu will render some of their hit numbers. Panchakanya, another dance programme directed by Kabirul Islam Ratan will be performed later.
   On the final day of the SAARC Summit, a cultural show will be held in the afternoon. A Manipuri dance directed by Sharmila Bandapadhya and Panchadighi directed by Dipa Khandakar will be performed in the beginning of the programme. Two regional dances––– Maya Lagaichhe and Biye Nritya (one kind of dance based on marriage of the Bengali community) directed by Minu Haque and Shafiqur Rahman respectively will be presented. Baby Naznin will render some of her hit numbers.
   The four-day special programme will be directed by Zinnat Barkatullah.

To mark the 13th SAARC Summit which is going on in Dhaka right now, popular TV channel NTV has designed a five-day special programme featuring special documentaries on each of the participating countries for its viewers. The special programmes have already begun on November 9. The first two of the documentaries featuring Bhutan and India have been telecast. Today the viewers can watch a documentary on Maldives at 4:25pm. The documentary featuring Nepal will be aired on November 11 and Pakistan on 12 at 4:25pm. The series will end with the airing of Sri Lanka and Bangladesh on November 13 at 4:25pm and 6:50pm respectively.
   Apart from these documentaries, a special two-episode programme titled Road to Dhaka, produced by Manowar Shahadat Darpan will be telecast on November 12 and 13 at 8:20pm. A musical programme Geeti Modhumoi featuring Runa Laila will be shown on November 12 at 12:10am. Bengali feature film Jiban Sangsar will also be telecast on November 10 at 10:30am.
   Along with these programmes the channel has also decided to telecast the inaugural and closing ceremony of the SAARC Summit live through BTV on November 12 at 9:45am and on November 13 at 2:45pm respectively.

French movie Cache (Hidden) leads the field for the European Film Awards, with seven nominations, including best actress for Juliette Binoche.
   British indie film My Summer of Love is in the running for four awards. The nominations were announced at the Seville Film Festival on Sunday, and will be handed out at a ceremony in Berlin on 3 December.
   Un Long Dimanche De Fiancailles (A Very Long Engagement), which is also French, has four nominations.
   Among the categories it is competing in are best actress for Audrey Tautou and best cinematography.
   My Summer of Love has been nominated for best film and best director for Polish-born Pawel Pawlikoswki, also one of the film’s co-writers.
   Young actress Nathalie Press also received a nomination for her performance as one of the two lead characters.
   Irish screenwriter Mark O’Halloran has been nominated for his work on Adam and Paul, which he also acted in.
   German film-maker Wim Wenders’ latest film Don’t Come Knocking received recognition in three categories, including best film and best director.
   Winners at last years European Film Awards, which were held in Barcelona, Spain, included German film Gegen Die Wand (Head On) for best film.
   The director award went to Alejandro Amenabar for Mar Adentro (The Sea Inside), while its lead Javier Bardem won best actor.

Robert Plant made up a quarter of Led Zeppelin UK rock band Led Zeppelin and Russian conductor Valery Gergiev were named winners of the Polar Music Prize.
   The awards are likened to the Nobel Prize, with winners receiving one million kroner (£70,523) from the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.
   The academy said Led Zeppelin were ‘one of the great pioneers of rock’.
   Gergiev was cited ‘for the way his unique electrifying musical skills have deepened and renewed our relationship with the grand tradition’.
   The Academy also said ‘he has managed to develop and amplify the importance of artistic music in these modern changing times’.
   As artistic and general director of the Mariinsky Theatre, he has dedicated 15 years striving to make it among the foremost opera companies in the world.
   Led Zeppelin split in 1980 following the death of drummer John Bonham, reuniting briefly for the Live Aid concert in 1985.
   The surviving members - Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones - continue to perform.
   The Polar Prize was founded by Stig Anderson, the former manager of Swedish pop group Abba.
   Previous winners have included Sir Paul McCartney, violinist Isaac Stern and music producer Quincy Jones.
   The prize will be awarded by Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf at a ceremony on 22 May.

Who can forget that 70s police action show with the anthemic opening theme? The shäw mares the jump to the big screen 28 years later featuring a top-caliber cast and explosive special effects Los Argees Police Department have brought back Lt. Hondo Harrelson (Jackson) to form his own Soecial Weapons And Tactics Unit He recruits ex-S.W.A.T. hothead officer Jim Street (Farrell) streetsmart Chris Sanonez (Rodriguez), Deke Kay (LL Cool J). sharpshooter T.J. McCabe (Charles) and Boxe' Van Holt Tne1 soon land the task of escorting high-profile international drug lord and gun smugg e' Alex More Martinez) Mantel smugly rebuffs the justice system by offering 100 million dollars to whomever can spring him free from jail. With that offer, all hell breaks loose as an assortment of Montel s cronies and random crackpots jump at the chance to set him free and win the money The S.W.A T team soon realize it will take all of their firepower and wits to keep Mantels henchmen at bay.
   HBO :
   9:30pm
   Starring:
   Samuel L Jackson, Colin Farrell, Michelle Rodriguez, LL Cool J
   Genre:
   Action/Thriller