BFFS's Hiralal Sen Memorial Lecture Series
Cultural Correspondent
The Bangladesh Federation of Film Societies (BFFS) has regularly been organising a monthly lecture series in memory of Hiralal Sen, pioneer film exhibitor and filmmaker of the South Asian subcontinent. Each month, a film expert of the country will deliver a lecture focusing on different aspects of cinema and filmmaking.Hiralal Sen was born in 1866 at the village Bagjuri at Manikganj in Dhaka. He founded the 'Royal Bioscope Company' in 1898. He procured the cinematograph machine from England in 1900 with which he shot many films. From 1900 to 1912, he made 12 fiction films, 10 documentary films and 3 advertisement films. Hiralal Sen was not only a pioneer of the Bengali cinema, but also of the Indian cinema. He was the first native filmmaker from the then British India. He died in October 1917. Unfortunately, none of his films has survived. The second lecture in the series will be delivered by Mustafa Monwar, eminent painter, TV producer and director, puppeteer and media personality. He will speak on 'Artistic Direction in Cinema'. Artistic direction is an important component in filmmaking process and the greatness of a film depends a lot on good artistic direction. It will be held at the auditorium of Bishwa Sahitya Kendro (World Literature Centre) at Mymensingh Road, Bangla Motor in the city on Saturday, July 31, 2004, at 6:00 PM. The lecture will be preceded by the screening of Fahrenheit 9/11 at 4:00 pm, made by renowned American documentary filmmaker Michael Moore. Incidentally, the film won the coveted 'Golden Palm' for the Best Film at this year's Cannes Film Festival.The first lecture in the series was delivered by filmmaker Tanvir Mokammel. He gave his lecture on 'The Aesthetics of Satyajit Ray's Films'. This special two-day lecture session was held at the auditorium of the Alliance Francaise, Dhaka on 6th and 7th June. The lecture was followed by the screening of two films Aparajito (The Unvanquished) and Apur Sangsar (The World of Apu) by Satyajit Ray.Bangladesh Federation of Film Societies (BFFS) is the federative and co-ordinating body of the active film societies of the country. It organises various programmes concerning creative, aesthetic, thematic and technical aspects of film and filmmaking. The executive committee of BFFS has been reconstituted recently to accommodate the really active film societies of the country. Now, BFFS is working very actively. The future programmes of the Federation includes the 'First National Conference on Film 2004' in October and the '2nd International Film Festival Bangladesh 2004'.
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Hiralal Sen (1866-1917) |
