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The 3rd International Children’s Film Festival organised by Children’s Film Society Bangladesh will begin in Dhaka on January 23.
   The weeklong festival with the slogan ‘Future in Frames’, will screen 243 films from 50 countries in 12 venues of the capital.
   Prime minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the festival at 4:00pm at Osmani Memorial Auditorium, organisers told a press conference at the National Press Club Thursday afternoon.
   Festival advisory committee chairman Mostafa Monwar, festival director Morshedul Islam, UNICEF communication specialist Arifa S Sharmin and sponsor mobile phone operator Warid’s public relations manager Mohammad Asaduzzaman, among others, spoke on the occasion.
   Any child below 18 years of age can watch the full-length, short-length, documentary and animation films free during the four sessions everyday beginning at 11:00am
   The venues includes Bangladesh Shishu Academy, Star Cineplex in Bashundhara City Shopping, Complex, British Council, Goethe-Institut, Uttrara and Dhanmondi branches of Alliance Francaise, Underprivileged Children’s Educational Programs auditorium in Mirpur, Iranian Cultural Centre, Russian Centre of Science and Culture, Pallima Sangsad in Khilgaon, and College of Leather Technology in Hazaribagh.
   Morshedul Islam said, ‘The weeklong festival will create a good impact on the children and help make them think of a better society.’
   The festival will project a total of 34 films directed by Bangladeshi children. Of them five films will be awarded on the basis of selection by jury board consisting of children. In the International Panorama category, one film will be awarded on the basis of audience vote.
   About 125 including underprivileged and physically challenged children representatives selected in filmmaking and essay writing competition will also attend the festival.
   The organisers said they would arrange a programme ‘Tapan Sinha Retrospective’ in memory of the late Indian filmmaker. Tapan Sinha’s seven films will be screened at the festival and a discussion will be held on his life and works on January 26.
   Filmmakers Tanvir Mokammel, Tareque Masud and Yasmin Kabir will facilitate a daylong workshop for children on films on January 25 and a daylong seminar will also be held on January 27.
   Children will also have the opportunity to meet in person professor Abdullah Abu Sayeed, writer Muhammad Zafar Iqbal and psychologist Mehtab Khanom on the occasion.
   Everyday seven buses including two double-deckers will ply in the city to carry children to and from the festival venues.

British film An Education is battling major Hollywood movies Avatar and The Hurt Locker with eight nominations each at the British Academy Film Awards, reports BBC.
   An Education’s Carey Mulligan is up for best actress alongside Meryl Streep and Audrey Tautou, with further nods for best film and director Lone Scherfig.
   District 9 has seven nominations, while Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds and Up In The Air have six nominations each. The awards take place at London’s Royal Opera House on 8 February.
   The main nominations were announced by British actors Matthew Good and Romola Garai at Bafta’s London headquarters.
   Sci-fi epic Avatar, named best movie drama at Sunday’s Golden Globes, is also shortlisted for best film, as is Iraq drama The Hurt Locker, directed by Kathryn Bigelow.
   They are joined by Precious, the hard-hitting tale of a high school student coping with issues including teenage pregnancy and sexual abuse, and recession-era drama Up In The Air, starring George Clooney.
   Avatar director James Cameron once again goes head to head with ex-wife Bigelow in the best director category. Cameron beat Bigelow in the same category at the Golden Globes.
   Danish director Scherfig, Quentin Tarantino and South Africa’s Neill Blomkamp - for District 9 - complete the line-up.
   In the best actor category, Clooney goes head to head with fellow Americans Jeff Bridges - for his role as a heavy-drinking country music singer in Crazy Heart - and Jeremy Renner for the Hurt Locker.
   But they face competition from British actors Colin Firth for A Single Man, and Andy Serkis, for Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll.

Notorious street artist Banksy, whose work has decorated his home town of Bristol and Israel’s West Bank barrier, has turned his hand to film-making, reports BBC.
   Exit Through The Gift Shop will have its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, his agent told the BBC.
   It will be the first time the elusive artist, who has never revealed his identity, has spoken on camera.
   Billed as ‘the world’s first street art disaster movie’, its inclusion in the festival has been shrouded in secrecy.
   Sundance organisers are due to announce its inclusion at a press conference on Thursday.
   Exit Through The Gift Shop was left off the official programme, but speculation about the festival’s Spotlight Surprise turned to Banksy after four stencils, believed to be by the artist, appeared on walls in Park City, where the festival is held.

Nine-day 11th Dhaka International Film Festival, organised by Rainbow Film Society, ends today.
   The concluding ceremony, to be followed by prize distribution and screening of Khalid Mahmood Mithu’s film Gohine Shabda, will begin at 4:00pm at the Shaheed Zia Auditorium of Bangladesh National Museum.
   Information secretary Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury, cultural affairs secretary Hedayetullah Al Mamun, festival committee chairperson Syed Marghub Murshed, vice-chairperson Badal Rahman and festival director Ahmed Muztaba Zamal will, among other, attend the programme.
   190 films from 66 countries were screened during the festival that also included a two-day seminar on filmmaking and an appreciation course conducted by the International Film Critics Association of Bangladesh.

Bangladesh Television will telecast the 19th episode of popular children’s programme Sisimpur at 9:35am today. The children will watch how the Prince of Sisimpur will break the pen while writing the Bangali alphabet ‘Ka’.
   Semai Ali, who does not know how to write, brings a cricket bat and flute to write the letter. The amusing episode will be telecast today to entertain children while educating. Children can also watch the programme at 2:15pm on Saturday and 5:05pm on Wednesday and Thursday next.

Exhibitions
   Tear the Skin of Reality
   By Javed Jalil
   Time: 10:00am to 12:00pm and 5:00pm to 8:30pm
   Date: January 22 to February 1
   Venue: La Galerie
   Alliance Francaise de Dhaka
   26 Mirpur Road, Dhanmondi
   
   Pain and Beauty
   By Wazmun Nahar Runty
   Time: From 12:00pm to 8:00pm
   Date: January 16 to February 15
   Venue: Gallery Samatal,
   House 4, Road 95, Gulshan-2
   Staring Women
   By Nazia Andaleeb Preema
   Time: 12:00pm to 8:00pm
   Date: January 15 to January 26
   Venue: Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts
   House: 275/F, Road: 27
   Dhanmondi, Dhaka
   Photography
   Bangladesh in Frame 2
   By Through the Lens
   Time: 3:00pm to 8:00pm
   Date: January 21 to January 25
   Venue: Drik Gallery,
   House: 58, Road: 15/A (New),
   Dhanmondi, Dhaka
   
   Dance Drama
   By Chinese Embassy
   Date: January 22 to January 23
   Time: 7:00pm
   Venue: National Theatre Hall,
   Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy,
   Segun Bagicha,
   Dhaka
   Theatre
   Binodini
   By Dhaka Theatre
   Date: January 22
   Time: 7:00pm
   Venue: Experimental Theatre Hall,
   Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy,
   Segun Bagicha, Dhaka
   
   Aham Tamasa
   By Mahakal Natya Sampradaya
   Date: January 22
   Time: 7:00pm
   Venue: Nilima Ibrahim Auditorium,
   Bangladesh Mahila Samity,
   Bailey Road, Dhaka
   Film Show
   Sundarbans
   Time: 6:00pm
   Venue: Alliance Française
   26 Mirpur Road, Dhanmondi,
   Dhaka
   
   Jaago
   Pink Panther 2
   Third Person Singer Number
   Venue: Star Cineplex
   Basundhara City Shopping Mall
   Panthapath,
   Dhaka
   
   Jaago
   Third Person Singular Number
   Venue: Balaka Cineworld
   Nilkhet, Dhaka