The tenth edition of Chobi Mela, a prestigious photography festival in Asia, will begin today.

The festival’s director Shahidul Alam and the curatorial team updated the media in connection with the upcoming festival programme at a press conference at Drik Gallery, of Dhanmondi area in the capital on Wednesday.

Chobi Mela X brings an exciting list of events this year. The theme for Chobi Mela X is ‘Place’. Curated by ASM Rezaur Rahman, Munem Wasif, Sarker Protick and Tanzim Wahab along with the guest curators, the tenth edition of the festival is more intimate with all venues situated in Dhanmondi area.

The Drik-Pathshala, an under-construction building at Panthapath area in the capital, is the main venue along with Drik Gallery (Dhanmondi and Panthapath), Goethe Institut, Gyantapas Abdur Razzak Bidyapeeth, Britto Arts Trust and Alliance Française de Dhaka.

Artists’ talks, panel discussions and curated slideshows will be organised at Goethe Institut. An excellent collection of films will be screened at the auditorium of Alliance Française de Dhaka. Pathshala South Asian Media Institute is the educational venue where workshops and portfolio reviews will be held. 

A total of 21 countries are participating in the 10-day festival.  The participating countries are Australia, Armenia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Italy, Nepal, Netherlands, Pakistan, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, Syria, UK and USA.