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28 MIN(s)
•ENTERTAINMENT
Arts & Entertainment Desk
Photos: Shadab Shahrokh Hai | AFD
Screenwriter and film critic Sadia Khalid Reeti launched her debut pocket book, “ReetiBakya”, alongside a live script performance at Alliance Française de Dhaka on August 19.
The event brought together several cultural personalities, including singers Abida Sultana and Rafiqul Alam, and filmmakers Masud Hassan Ujjal, Fakhrul Arefin Khan and Ahmed Muztaba Zamal.
“ReetiBakya” comprises 99 short reflections drawn from Reeti’s observations and experiences. Spanning general wisdom, film criticism and current affairs, the book also turns to more personal subjects such as love, loss and memory.
Following Reeti’s introduction to the book, members of the audience were invited to read aloud passages that resonated with them, turning the launch into an interactive exchange between the author and her readers.
The evening also featured a script performance of Reeti’s “A Birth for a Death”, inspired by the story associated with Rabindranath Tagore’s song “Aaj Jyotsna Raate Shobai Gechhe Bone”. The script explores the circumstances surrounding the song’s conception and the experiences believed to have shaped Tagore’s writing of it.
Actors Nusrat Rysa, Irfan Rony, Kaniz Farjana Arefin and Sasha performed the script for the audience. The presentation sought to explore an alternative way of bringing a screenplay to audiences at a time when securing funding and taking a film from script to screen can be a lengthy and uncertain process.
Singer-songwriter Farshid Alam also performed acoustic renditions of Tagore songs during the event. Alam is known for co-hosting the long-running music programme “Music Buzz” with Alif Alauddin and has previously been associated with bands including Pentagon and Bohemian.
Reeti studied screenwriting at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and has worked in editorial roles at The Daily Star, Dhaka Tribune and Daily Bruin since 2012. Her work as a film critic has taken her to international film festivals across several countries as a jury member.
She served on the FIPRESCI jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 2019 and 2024, as well as at the International Film Festival of Kerala, Bengaluru International Film Festival and Dhaka International Film Festival. She is also the first international voter for the Golden Globe Awards from Bangladesh.
A Berlinale Talents alumna, Reeti has participated in mentorship programmes with Film Independent and Locarno Open Doors and received the Charles Wallace Fellowship from the British Council. She is co-convener of the West Meets East Screenplay Lab and teaches film studies at the University of Dhaka.
Reeti currently serves on Bangladesh’s National Film Advisory Committee and is vice president of the International Film Critics Association of Bangladesh (IFCAB).
