A total of 220 films from 74 countries were shown during the nine-day long Asian Competition section of the 18th Dhaka International Film Festival (DIFF) which began on 11th of this month. The theme of this year’s festival was ‘better film, better audience, better society.’ The Iranian film ‘Castle of Dreams’ directed by Reza Mirakarimi won the Best Film Award. The film also won the Best Director Award.
Indian film ‘Finally Love’ directed by Anjan Dutt has won the Best Audience Award in Cinema of the World Category while ‘Children of the Sun’ directed by Sri Lankan director Prasanna Vithanage has won the Special Jury Award in the 18th Dhaka International Film Festival. In Bangladesh Panorama Section, ‘No Dorai’ directed by Taneem Rahman Angshu bagged the Best Film Award.
Best Actress Award went to Arezoo Ariapoor, Ferestha Afshar and Hasiba Ebrahimi for their acting in Afghanistan-Iran-France joint venture film ‘Hava, Maryamk, Ayesha’ while the Best Actor Award went to Lousie Abuel for his acting in the film ‘Edward’. Information Minister of Bangladesh Hasan Mahmud gave away the award carrying prize money of Tk 1 lakh, a citation and crest in the closing ceremony held in Dhaka.