Dhaka International Mobile Film Festival holds CDST filmmaking workshop with Munda community

The mobile filmmaking workshop solely focused on climate change and its aftermath in Munda’s life. Total 8 participants from the Munda Community joined the workshop

Dhaka International Mobile Film Festival held a five-day Community Digital Storytelling (CDST) filmmaking workshop with Munda community in Koyra, Khulna which started on 6 November.

The mobile filmmaking workshop solely focused on climate change and its aftermath in Munda's life. Total 8 participants from the Munda Community joined the workshop, said a press release. 

Participants have tried their best to cover different problem areas and how those create a long-term effect in the Munda community. In those diverge topics they talk about the salinity in the water, health and safety, culture and language, job crisis that leads to displacement. Through their stories, they display the mundane life of Munda woman, her concern for not providing enough nutrition to her family. 

The intensive mobile filmmaking workshop, the first of its kind in Koyra, provided the opportunity for participants from the Munda community to "understand and appreciate the process of telling their stories with a smartphone." At the closing event, each participant has showcased their films in front of the audience. 

Closing ceremony of the "CDST Filmmaking Workshop with Munda Community, Koyra 2021" was held on Thursday (11 November). University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) Media Studies and Journalism Department Head Dr Jude William Genilo sent a thank you speech to the participants, and so did the project researcher Angelos Theocharis from Durham University.

The programme started with a brief introduction to the research project and was followed by screening participants' projects. Local school teachers, social workers, journalists and renowned public figures also grace the event, the press release added. 

The "Community Digital Storytelling and Delta Futures in India, Bangladesh and Vietnam" project is funded by the UKRI GCRF Living Deltas Hub and the Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience (IHRR) at Durham University. The workshop were conducted in collaboration with the Dhaka International Mobile Film Festival (DIMFF), ULAB, and the Initiative for Coastal Development (ICD). From DIMFF, advisor Dr Abdul Kabil Khan and executive advisor Syeda Sadia Mehjabin were the facilitators and DIMFF's advisor Mohammad Shazzad Hossain was the coordinator of the workshop. From ICD, Asikuzzaman Asik acted as the coordinator from the local side