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Kate Winslet
   Oscar winner Kate Winslet opted for a two-tone Yves Saint Laurent by Stefano Pilati dress. Her husband, director Sam Mendes, accompanied her to the ceremony.
   
   Penelope Cruz
   Penelope Cruz took the prize for best supporting actress. She sparkled on the red carpet in a ruched white couture embellished with stones.
   
   Angelina Jolie
   Best actress nominee Angelina Jolie added a spot of colour to her black gown with green drop earrings. She turned up with the ultimate accessory - boyfriend Brad Pitt.
   
   Freida Pinto
   Slumdog Millionaire star Freida Pinto wore a beaded John Galliano dress with one bejewelled lace sleeve. The British film scooped the evening’s top award, best picture.
   
   Melissa Leo
   Actress Melissa Leo received a nomination for best actress for her role in Frozen River. She chose a copper chiffon gown, with ruching and beading, by Badgley Mischka.

A large number of fans and followers of the mystic poet Bijoy Sarkar gathered at the village Dumdi, twelve kilometres away from Narail town on the morning of February 19 to celebrate the poet’s 106th birthday.
   As in the previous years, the birth anniversary celebration committee arranged a colourful rally, ‘Bijoy Mela’, discussion and cultural programme. Baul and folk singers from different areas delighted the audience by singing baul songs, jari gaan, kirtan and many other kinds of folksongs during the festival. Chief guest additional deputy commissioner Mohammad Jahangir Alam inaugurated the daylong festival.
   By arranging Bijoy Mela the organisers created a festive mood. Stalls of traditional textiles, food and other products were set in the mela ground. The organisers also arranged a merry-go-round that attracted different ages of people.
   Among others, chairman of Narail Sadar Sharif Humayun Kabir, vice chairman of Sadar thana Belal Ahmed, painter Ali Asgar and advocate Firoz Ahmed spoke in the discussion that was chaired by convenor of the celebration committee Dhamini Mohan Roy.
   Bijoy Sarkar, born on February 19, 1903, is famous for his mystic and folk songs known as ‘Bijoy geeti’. He wrote about 1800 songs including murshidi, bhatiali, kirtan, bhajan, toppa and baul songs and most of them were composed by him.
   Born in a peasant family, Bijoy was attracted by music and poetry since childhood. His father was Naba Krishna Adhikari and his mother was Himalaya Devi. This mystic singer earned fame across the region and delighted Rabindranath Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Jasimuddin and other eminent poets of Bengal by singing his own composed songs. Bijoy also earned the title ‘Sarkar’ for his fascination with music. He died on December 2, 1985.

Filmmaker Asghar Farhadi expressed his amazement, saying that he did not expect his film ‘About Elly’ to win an award at the 59th Berlin film festival.
   In a press conference held here at the Resaneh Cultural Centre on Saturday, the cast and crew members of the film attended the session and answered questions posed by reporters.
   Farhadi won a Silver Bear for the best director for ‘About Elly’ at the 59th Berlin Film Festival last week.
   ‘We planned to hold a session right after we returned home from Berlin, since our review session was not held in Tehran after its screening at the 27th Fajr Film Festival like other movies since we were in Berlin to promote the movie at the time.
   ‘When left for Berlin, I did not expect to win an award and were planning to return, but our tickets were not confirmed and we had to stay longer. Then, much to our surprise, we got the award at the closing ceremony,’ he explained.