Bismillahir rahmanir rahim

Mr. Chairman,
Excellencies,
Distinguished guests

It is for me a matter of pleasure and satisfaction to be able to join you all at the inauguration of the 9th Dhaka International Film Festival. With its impressive repertoire of almost 200 films from 31 countries covering all six continents, the Festival promises to be a celebration of global creativity.

I would like to congratulate Rainbow Film Society for their commendable role in organizing this premier film event of the country. Holding nine festivals in succession is no small feat. I would also like to congratulate the participants from home and abroad -- they are the core of this Festival. Your participation will in the coming days awake Dhaka in a celebration of films. Filmmakers, activists and film lovers alike will be treated to a feast of films representing diverse cultures, genres and themes. This will also bring together filmmakers, both old and new, in a conclave of cultures and communities that they represent. This is essentially what films are about.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Film is both an art medium and an industry; and this duality imparts a tremendous life force to it. Today, film enjoys a dominant position in cultures around the world. Films, more than any of the other media, touch and reach us all with an unparalleled intensity. As a subject, it lends itself to immediate and engaged discussion, to a ready sharing and exchange of viewpoints, tastes and expectations.

The inherent power of the cinema needs no new introduction. It rests on its immediacy and power to connect, and connect intensely. The image, its plastic composition and the way it is set in time, has at its disposal more means of manipulating reality and of modifying it from within. The Dhaka International Film Festival offers a window for us to experience this higher degree of realism, and how filmmakers from diverse cultures create this reality. It more than anything else helps connect peoples and nations.

Friends,

I would like to pay tribute on this occasion to the contribution made by the film societies movement over the last several decades for promoting a healthy film culture in Bangladesh. It goes to the credit of the movement that it has not only produced a growing pool of viewers of good films but also created a generation of talented young filmmakers, some of whom have already won international acclaim. I am confident that this Festival will help redefine our film industry and put us on the map of world cinema.

Lest I forget, I would like to extend to all foreign delegates and guests a most warm welcome to Dhaka and hope that their stay here would be enjoyable.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

With these words, I now have the great pleasure of declaring the 9th Dhaka International Film Festival open.

I thank you.