International Children’s Film Festival Bangladesh is an annual film festival held countrywide, which showcases full-length features, shorts, experimental films made for and by children, including fiction animations and documentaries, from around the world. Founded in 2008, it is the biggest and also the only international film festival for children and young adults in Bangladesh. The festival aims to open a new world of movies to the children of Bangladesh, exposing them to a diversity of cultures and traditions from various nations through cinema. The festival provides youth with a platform to showcase their talent in media and to understand its role in bringing attention to various social issues and learning through entertainment. Through awards and delegate scheme, the festival acknowledges and nurtures the talents of young Bangladeshi filmmakers.
International Children's Film Festival Bangladesh commenced on 24 January 2017 organised by Children’s Film Society Bangladesh (CFS). For the tenth year in a row, Children's Film Society Bangladesh has set off the International Children's Film Festival Bangladesh. The festival continued until 30 January 2017 in Dhaka, Rangpur, Rajshahi and Chittagong. The British Council was pleased to support as a strategic partner, collaborating through an outreach programme with workshops, talks and screenings on storytelling through films in Dhaka and Rangpur with British documentary filmmaker, TV presenter and journalist Billie JD Porter as well as hosting screenings at the British Council Dhaka University campus office.
AMA Muhith, Honourable Finance Minister, People’s Republic of Bangladesh inaugurated the festival as the chief guest at Central Public Library, Shahbagh while Asaduzzaman Noor MP, Honourable Cultural Minister, People’s Republic of Bangladesh was present as the special guest. Muhammad Zafar Iqbal, prominent Bangladeshi author, physicist, professor and activist was also at the festival. The inaugural ceremony was presided over by the Chairman of the Festival Advisory Committee, eminent artist Mustafa Monwar. Nearly three hundred films from 54 countries were screened at 11 venues countrywide during the festival.