ABOUT US |
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The London Bengali Film Festival (LBFF) is an annual celebration of films from or about the Bengali Diaspora. The festival will be held in London with special guest and talks, followed by a red carpet film awards ceremony, thus making it the largest Bengali film festival in the world, outside of Bengal. Our goal is to bring the rich artistic and modern culture of Bengal and experiences & contacts of the Bengali diaspora portrayed through film to the mainstream platform. |
"Mainstream films have a global audience, but global stories also need to be seen by the
mainstream audience. The London Bengali Film Festival does exactly that." Munsur Ali - Founder and CEO, LBFF
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Founder & CEO |
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Festival Director |
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Munsur Ali Film Producer and the Deputy Chair for Culture, Heritage and Libraries at the historic City of London Corporation, Munsur also co-founded the DAC (Digital Arts Collective) based in the largest film studios in London. Munsur realised the need for a platform to identify Bengali experiences on the big screen as he founded a parallel programme Limelight Film Awards,which at it's peak was identified as the largest independent short film awards in the UK. |
Subidita Bhattacharya - Moringa Entertainment With an MA in Film Distribution and Marketing, Subidita has been associated with film production, marketing, release and organising special screenings. She stepped into the entertainment industry as an intern in the London-based international sales company WestEnd Films at the Cannes Film Festival 2014. Later she worked as a production manager in a docu-reality TV show which was acquired by Netflix. At Moringa Entertainment’s distribution wing she plays a key role in the business development; identifying and acquiring the films to distribute. |
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Programme Director |
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Dilruba Yasmeen Ruhee Ruhee is a super model turned actress and one of the biggest stars in Bangladesh's silver screen and an award winning personality since 2006, who is currently living in London and the founder of Ruhuu 25, an events company. She is also producing her own creative content ranging from cinema to TV and various cultural events. |
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juRY MEMBERS |
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Dr Ashvin Immanuel Devasundaram - Senior Lecturer - World Cinem (London) Dr Devasundaram is Senior Lecturer in World Cinema at Queen Mary University of London. He is author of India's New Independent Cinema: Rise of the Hybrid (Routledge, 2016), Indian Cinema Beyond Bollywood: The New Independent Cinema Revolution (Routledge, 2018) and Indian Indies: A Guide to New Independent Indian Cinema (with a foreword by Shabana Azmi), Routledge, 2022- the world's first books on new Indian Indie films. |
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Fahmidul Haq, Ph.D. - Professor, Bard College (New York / Bangladesh) Fahmidul Haq, Ph.D., is visiting professor at Bard College, New York and teaches film and media. His key publications include Cinema of Bangladesh: A Brief History (2020) and Identity Nationhood and Bangladesh Independent Cinema (2022). He taught at University of Dhaka, Bangladesh for 17 years and at University of Notre Dame, USA for two years. He is also a digital content creator, runs a live show titled ‘Haq Kotha’, based in Facebook and YouTube that engages local activists and critical thinkers. |
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Dr Debanjan Chakrabarti - Director British Council (India) Dr Debanjan Chakrabarti is Director British Council, East and Northeast India. He has over 20 years of experience in leading education, development, arts and cultural collaboration programmes in India and internationally for the British Council. |
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Ri Chakraborty FRSA - Executive Producer & Broadcast Journalist (UK) Ri Chakraborty FRSA, is a trained Broadcast Journalist, award-winning senior Executive Producer/Commissioner in Film and TV with global focus, 27 years' creative industry experience, and an elected Fellow of the Royal Society for arts, manufactures and commerce (RSA). Ri's expansive experience in Film and TV has led to being a Board member of Norwich University of the Arts. She also advises on education strategies for Creative Arts Academia and Arts Councils. |
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ADVISORY BOARD |
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Charlotte Worthington - Artist / Former Head of of Film (London / Singapore) Charlotte is an artists and the former Head of Film Department at the London Metropolitan University, then moved to Singapore where she was the Programme Leader at LASALLE College of the Arts in Singapore. She has been with the festival since it started. |
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Dr. Shoma A. Chatterji - Film Critic (Kolkata) Dr. Shoma A. Chatterji is a freelance journalist and film critic of 47 years standing. She has authored 30 titles including on film studies. She won the National Award for Best Film Critic in 1991 and for Best Book on Cinema in 2003. She has been bestowed several Lifetime Achievement Awards for her contribution to journalism (cinema and gender respectively). She lives in Kolkata with her husband. |
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E. Nina Rothe - Journalist (London) E. Nina Rothe is a journalist who was born in Florence, Italy, grew up in New York City and now calls London her home. She has written for Vogue Italia, Harper’s Bazaar Arabia, The Art Newspaper, Empire Arabia, the HuffPost and The National, among others. She is the co-founder of MIME.news (Moving Image Middle East), a platform for highlighting everything visual in and from the Region. |
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Martin Gooch - FIlm Maker (London) Martin Gooch is a London based celebrated film maker who has worked on over 200 productions, including 'Judge Dredd,' 'Harry Potter' to his own features 'Death' and 'The Search for Simon.' He also lectures on film productions and regularly travels on his film journeys. |
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Billy Mackinnon - Producer / Writer / Director (Berlin / UK) Billy is a director / producer / script writer and credits include 'Small faces,' Hideous Kinky, - Starring Kate Winslet, Award winning film 'Piano,' to name a few. |
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David W Miller ACIS ACIB DMS - Chair, British Federation of Film Societies (UK) Trustee and Programmer Keswick Film Club |
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