Film Archive preserves prints of films, the history of
films, books, papers, motionless pictures, trailers, censor
certificates, disks, cassettes, tapes, screenplays, posters,
banners and other signs. Films are also exhibited there. The
archive also publishes magazines, books, catalogues and bulletins.
It undertakes research and surveys and organises seminars,
functions and special ceremonies. The International Film Archive
and UNESCO extend assistance to archives of every
country.
Film Archive of Bangladesh was set up in 1978 as an
organisation under the ministry of information. The designation of
its chief executive is the director general (earlier the
designation was curator). At the time of its foundation, the
organisation was named the Bangladesh Film Institute and Archive
(BFIA). In 1984, the Institute was merged with the National Mass
Communications Institute to form the Film Archive with the status
of an independent institution. The Film Archive started to function
at a rented house in the dhanmondiarea
of dhakacity and its first curator was A K
M Abdur Rouf. It was shifted to the Gana Bhaban area of
Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in 1986 and to the Lalmatia area in 1998. The
government has a plan to shift it to the Agargaon area and to build
a Film Complex there.
Functions of the Film Archive are: to collect and
preserve prints of films and mementos like screenplays, still
pictures, books of stories and songs for films, advertisement
designs, posters, banners, festoons and books and journals; record
important historical events and other developments; conduct
research and surveys on different aspects of social life with the
help of visual techniques; and educate the masses through films.
The list of collected and preserved films and mementos in the Film
Archive up to December 1998 include prints of 220 feature films,
negatives of 180 feature films, 150 short films, 650 documentary
films, 240 news films, 2,446 books and booklets, 13,580 motionless
pictures, 4,152 posters, 1,371 screenplays, 287 books of songs,
1,365 summary stories, 640 motionless pictures on festivals, 11,795
paper cuttings, 8,926 magazines, and 2,739 miscellaneous
items.
The list of items preserved in the Archive includes
Sukumari, the first short film (silent), produced at Dhaka
in 1927-28, scenario of the first feature film (silent), The
Last Kiss, produced in 1931, the first Bangla feature film,
Mukh O Mukhosh (1956), print of Asia, the first film
of the Bangladesh Film Development Corporation (FDC), copies of
newspapers and magazines on cinema and culture like the monthly
Cinema, Rupchhaya, Udayan, Shandhani, Mridanga, Chalantika,
Chitrali, Ramna and Chitrakash, a reel of the film
Dhruba, of which KAZI NAZRUL ISLAM was one of the directors and in
which he himself was an actor, and Debdas directed by
Promathesh Barua. Prints of the world famous films The
Battleship Potemkin, October, The Mother, The
Voyages of Fear, Rashomon, Pather Pachali, and
Apur Shangshar and films on the War of
Liberation of
Bangladesh are also in the collection.
The Archive organises exhibitions, discussion meetings,
seminars and courses on film reviewing. The first course was
conducted in August 1981. The syllabi of these short-term and
theoretical courses include the history of films, criticism,
aesthetics, editing, screenplay and art direction. Noted alumni are
Morshedul Islam (produced films titled Agami, Dhaka,
Dipu No. 2, Dukhai), Tanvir Mokammel (Huliya,
Nadir Nam Madhumati, Chitra Nadir Padey), and Akhtaruzzaman
(Princess Tina Khan, Poka Makoder Gharbasati), who
are prominent among the country's serious
filmmakers.
The Film Archive organised a number of Film
Festivalsand
noted among them are the Indian Film Festival (1984), SAARC Film
Festival (1985), German Film Festival (1987), The Soviet Union Film
Festival (1988) and the Chinese Film Festival (1991). Eminent film
personalities from different countries visit the Film Archive and
many of them deliver lectures at seminars and workshops organised
by Film Archive.
Source: www.Banglapedia.org
