With the ouster of the previous government, an array of committees have also been replaced. The newest reform came to the National Film Grant committee.
Previously the committee gave funding to films, which were supposed to encourage and uplift both amateur and veteran film makers. They had one priliminary selection committee and one final script selection committee to decide who will receive the funds. Many of the previous years' grant recipients have not completed the films. Most have been labled substandard by the audience and critics alike.
In hopes of establishing a better system of accountability, this year, there will be three different committees, each dealing with a different part of the selection process. And for the first time a sub-committee has been added to the existing two layer selection process.
The members of the script selection committee include Dhaka University Associate Professor of the the Department of Theatre and Performance Studies Dr Shahman Shahriar, journalist and film critic Sadia Khalid Reeti, author and screenwriter Nazim Ud Daula, and director Masuma Rahman Tani, alongside government representatives.
The scripts selected by this committee will then move up to be vetted by the film grant committee. Out of the shortlisted scripts, they will select the final scripts that will receive the grant. The members include Dhaka University lecturer of the Department of Theatre and Performance Studies Abul Basher Md Ziaul Haque Bhuyan (Titas Zia), filmmaker and producer Khan Sharfuddin Mohammad Akram (Akram Khan), director and screenwriter Nargis Akhter, president of Rainbow Film Society Ahmed Muztaba Zamal, director/editor Sameer Ahmed, and actress and model Zakia Bari Mamo.
The film grant sub-committee will work alongside the other committes to make sure they meet the proper criteria. The members include Dhaka University Assistant Professor of the Department of Television, Film and Photography Reffat Ferdous, filmmaker and researcher Imran Firdaus, director and cinematographer Md Abid Mallick and director Mehdi Hasan.
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