LocationsYoung Filmmakers Turn Cinema into a Space for Dialogue, Memory and Hope
September 29, 2026
Event Details
September 21, 2026
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September 23, 2026
For three days in September, the University of Dhaka became a meeting point for young storytellers from around the world. Their films explored the stories of resistance, identity, disappearing livelihoods, personal loss and the search for justice, showing how cinema can carry difficult conversations beyond the auditorium.
The 17th International Inter-University Short Film Festival (IIUSFF), organised by the Dhaka University Film Society (DUFS), brought together emerging filmmakers and audiences and gathered them from 21 to 23 September.
This year, the festival received 1,269 submissions from 92 countries, with Bangladesh, Iran and India accounting for the highest number of entries. Around 200 films were screened, exploring themes including gender, identity, climate displacement, memory and loss.
Portrait, an Iran-France co-production directed by Farzam Tabibi, received the Zahir Raihan Best Short Award. The film offers a quiet exploration of power and agency between a woman and the photographer attempting to capture her image.
Bangladeshi filmmaker Mong Sai Shwe Marma received the Tareque Masud Best Emerging Director Award for Regresa. The documentary follows an Indigenous fisherman whose livelihood is increasingly threatened by the declining condition of the Sangu River, connecting an intimate personal story with wider concerns around environmental change and community survival.
The festival also created space for conversations beyond the screen. On the final day, a panel discussion titled “Film, Memory, and the Politics of Hope” explored how societies remember injustice and how those memories are shaped following periods of political upheaval.
Speakers discussed the role of documentary and fiction in preserving collective memory, the importance of safeguarding citizen-shot footage, and the growing impact of artificial intelligence on trust in visual evidence. They also stressed the need to protect the privacy and dignity of victims and survivors when documenting sensitive events.
At the closing ceremony, Professor Dr Kazi Mohammad Mahbubur Rahman, the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Dhaka described film as a mirror of society and encouraged young filmmakers to remain grounded in lived realities as Bangladesh moves through a period of transition.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Bangladesh has supported DUFS festivals over the years. This edition was also supported by the Royal Norwegian Embassy and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
“Supporting young filmmakers means supporting their ideas and visions for the future,” said Romana Schweiger, Senior Advisor on Rule of Law and Human Rights at UNDP Bangladesh.
For young directors, the festival offers more than recognition. It allows them to present their work to wider audiences, receive feedback from established filmmakers and build connections with peers from Bangladesh and abroad.
Previous editions have also helped emerging filmmakers develop professional networks and mentorship opportunities, including connections with members of festival juries.
By creating space for young people to tell stories in their own voices, the festival helps bring overlooked experiences into public conversation. It also shows how cinema can become a space for reflection, empathy and dialogue, while enabling a new generation of filmmakers to contribute to how contemporary challenges are remembered, understood and discussed.