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The Children Film Society Bangladesh will host the weeklong third international children’s film festival from January 23, 2010, in Dhaka.
   Children are requested to submit their videos and essays at the Children Film Society Bangladesh, Apt no 3/D, House 45, Road 4/A, Dhanmondi, Dhaka by October 31. The participants have to show their birth certificates as a proof of their age.
   According to the organisers, the festival will take place at the Shawkat Osman Auditorium of the Central Public Library, Bangladesh Shishu Academy, British Council, German Cultural Centre, Iranian Cultural Centre, Russian Centre for Science and Culture and Alliance Française de Dhaka.
   The organisers expect that they will screen over one hundred films made for children from over 40 countries.
   They will also arrange competitions on filmmaking and essay writing for children, on the occasion of the festival. Children from six to twelve years and thirteen to seventeen years of age can take part in two groups, in the competition. Five winners of the competition will be rewarded during the festival.
   Children can make films of any length and in any format. They can use any camera including the mobile phone camera. They are required to write an essay on ‘My favourite person, why favourite?’ in 500 words.
   The organisers will nominate 120 participants from the competition on essay writings to attend the festival with their guardians.
   The selected participants from the competition on filmmaking will also be invited to attend.
   Festival director Morshedul Islam, also a noted filmmaker, told New Age, ‘We will increase the number of participants and venues so that the programme can become more festive.’
   He further said, ‘We will invite foreign filmmakers and actors and arrange interactive sessions with the filmmakers and the audience.’
   ‘We will also bring in school children from around the city so that they can enjoy the films,’ he added.
   Interested persons can visit the website www.cfs-bangladesh.com for more information and email at cfsbangladesh2006@gmail.com

Michael Jackson’s hits played over outdoor speakers, and Will Smith and Jennifer Lopez joined the singer’s brothers in Los Angeles on Tuesday for the worldwide premiere of ‘This Is It’, a concert movie billed as the King of Pop’s final stand, reports Reuters/Bdnews24.com.
   Culled from 80 hours of videotape taken of the pop star’s final days of rehearsals for a series of London concerts in July, director Kenny Ortega has called the film ‘a story of a master of his craft’.
   Several hundred fans, many of them wearing a single sequined glove like the one Jackson donned in the 1980s, gathered for the Los Angeles premiere and at a simultaneous opening in London. Some 150,000, including fans from Brazil and Australia, watched the L.A. event live on the Internet.
   Premieres were also held in 15 other cities including Seoul, Johannesburg, Rio De Janeiro, and Berlin.
   Motown Records founder Berry Gordy, and Jackson’s brothers Jermaine, Tito, Jackie and Marlon were among those who paid tribute to Jackson, who died in June, days before his concert comeback.
   ‘You are going to see preparations for what would have been one of the greatest shows ever,’ Jermaine Jackson told reporters. But he warned, ‘You are going to see him going through the motions, not giving 100 percent.’
   Jackson’s three children, his mother and his sisters appeared not to have attended the premiere.
   Jackson, who grew up as one of Motown legends The Jackson 5 and still has the best-selling album of all-time with 1982’s solo effort ‘Thriller’, died suddenly on June 25 in Los Angeles after suffering cardiac arrest at age 50.
   Officials have since ruled that his heart stopped due to an overdose of sedatives and the powerful anesthetic propofol, which is utilized in surgery.
   The film does not delve into the details of his death, which could result in criminal charges being filed against his doctors.
   ‘It’s a privileged path to observe Michael as the creative architect and mastermind behind his work,’ Ortega told Reuters. He called it ‘unguarded’ and said ‘it’s a unique behind-the-scenes look at the creative process of putting a show together.’

Indian actress Jaya Bhaduri Bachchan is busy shooting her film ‘Meherjan’ in Dhaka.
   Jaya Bachchan arrived in Dhaka on Monday for shooting of the film being directed by Syeda Rubaiyat Hossain. Bangladeshi model girl Shayna and Pakistani Omar Rahim will perform in the film as female and male leads.
   Oscar winning music director AR Rahman will compose the music, sources in the production team said.
   Wife of the legendry Indian film star Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya first appeared as a child actor in Satyajit Ray’s Bengali film ‘Mahanagar’ in 1963 and made her first screen role as an adult in ‘Guddi’ directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee in 1971.
   Jaya, born in Jabalpur and educated at Saint Joseph’s Convent School in Bhopal, later graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune.
   She earned reputation by her performances in films such as Jawani Diwani, Koshish, Anamika, Piya Ka Ghar and Bawarchi.
   During her long career, she has won three Filmfare Best Actress Awards, three Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Awards and was honoured with the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007.

Nazneen Haque Mimi’s book on interior design titled ‘Homes of Bangladesh’ was launched recently in New York in the fair ‘Made in Bangladesh’, said a press release on Tuesday.
   The book, brought out by a Dhaka-based publishing house Journeyman, is distributed by another Bangladeshi publishing house called Agami Prakashani.
   Bangladesh foreign minister Dipu Moni unveiled the cover of the book while Bangladesh high commissioner Akramul Qader, Bangladesh representative in the United Nations Dr AK Abdul Momen, Bangladesh consulate consul general in New York M Shamsul Haque, media personalities Mohammad Jahangir and Afzal Hossain and Channel-i director Jahiruddin Mahmud were, among others, present at the launching ceremony.
   The 356-page book discusses the tradition of interior design and its current trends in Bangladesh. The book, divided into 16 sections, also discusses the gradual changes and technical aspects of interior design.
   The book, published in the year of the celebration of 400-year of Dhaka, has upheld the tradition of Bangladesh and received critical appreciation from readers.
   Nazneen, who had a diploma on interior design, has extensively researched on the tradition of interior design and lifestyle in Dhaka from 1040s onwards. The author also hosted many programmes on interior design in ATN Bangla and contributed to Star Lifestyle.

Premiere show of the film Durbin will be held today at 7:30pm at Star Cineplex in Basundhara City Shopping Mall.
   The film, produced by Anupam Sangskritik Sangsad and distributed by Bangladesh Digital Film Society, is made for children.
   The organisers said that they hoped the guardians would come and enjoy the film.

Actress Scarlett Johansson is to make her Broadway debut in Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge, reports BBC.
   She will star opposite Scream star Liev Schreiber in the 1950s-set drama about a Brooklyn dock worker who is obsessed by his 17-year-old niece.
   The production is due to open at the Cort Theater on 24 January with previews beginning on 28 December.
   Other Hollywood stars to have appeared on Broadway this year have included Jude Law and Hugh Jackman.
   Johansson, 24, has appeared in films including Lost In Translation, Girl with a Pearl Earring and Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
   Schreiber, 42, has performed on Broadway a number of times and won a Tony Award in 2005 for his role in David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross.

Exhibition
   Of Conflict and Harmony
   By Architect Mustapha Khalid Palash
   Time: 11:00am to 8:00pm
   Date: October 23 to November 22
   Venue: Gallery Of Fine Arts
   Asiatic Society of Bangaldesh
   5 old secretariat road
   Nimtali, Dhaka
   
   Theatre
   Amina Sundari
   By Theatre Art Unit
   Time: 7:00pm
   Venue: Experimental Theatre Hall
   Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy
   Segun Bagicha, Dhaka
   
   Meraj Fakirer Ma
   Theatre (Bailey Road)
   Time: 7:00pm
   Venue: Zahir Raihan Cultural Centre
   Sutrapur, Dhaka
   
   French Film Festival
   Organised by Alliance Française of Dhaka
   and Zahir Raihan Film Society
   Date: October 25 to October 30
   Venue: Alliance Française De Dhaka
   26 Mirpur Road,
   Dhanmondi,
   Dhaka
   
   The Lovers on the Bridge
   Filmmaker: Jean-Jacques Beineix (France)
   Time: 5:00pm
   
   Léon: The Professional
   Filmmaker: Luc Besson (France)
   Time: 7:00pm
   
   Film show at Star Cineplex
   Monpura
   Transporter 3
   Slumdog Millionaire
   Basundhara City Shopping Mall
   Panthapath, Dhaka