Two-day long International Mime Festival held in JU

A two-day international mime festival organised by 'Rangan Mime Academy' was held at Jahangirnagar University.

With the concluding remarks of Professor Dr Israfil Ahmed, the founder director of Rangan Mime Academy, the chairman of Bangladesh Mime Federation and chairman of the Drama and Dramatics Department, the festival ended on Sunday evening at Selim Al Deen Muktamancha of the University.

In the concluding speech, mentioning the enormous potential of the mime industry in Bangladesh, Dr Israfil said, "It is an art medium where everything is expressed only through body language. Various items have to be presented for use while performing a play. Let's say, a teacup, a radio, a table. But mime doesn't need any of that. Creating an image or illusion with just one's body makes it possible to express everything through mime. Through mime, an artist can present a captivating performance in a short time, in a small space."

He said about the organisation of the Mime Festival for the first time, "Without any sponsor, I organised this event on my own initiative with the help of some friends. The only objective was to increase the practice of mime in the country, let this art medium spread all over Bangladesh, be equally developed and ignited. We want to create a trend for this event organising this festival next year."

On this occasion, the groups and solo artists participating in the festival were honoured with a blanket and Crest.

Also, the cover of a book on mime named 'Origins and Development of Mime' written by Dr Israfil Ahmed, was unveiled.

About the book, he said, "This book has a historical discussion of the past and present practice of mime. Although we think the history of mime is largely western. Following the Greeks or Romans, it came to the subcontinent. But we have researched that there was a mime in this subcontinent even before that. In Bharata's Natyashastra, Angik, Bachik, Aharya, and Sattvik are four types of acting. 

He said, "In Angik acting, there is mention of how the actor's eyes, eyebrows, hands will be used. So, there was Angik Abhinay or Mukavinya (Mime) in our subcontinent long ago. Besides Ramayan, Mahabharat, Patanjali Mahabhasya, presence of Mime is also there. From these ancient materials, we can learn that Mime is actually our art, not that of the West."

Rangan Mime Academy has organised the 'International Mime Festival' at Jahangirnagar University with the participation of 21 local and foreign mime groups. Street mime, seminar, mime workshop, open discussion, solo and group mime and other activities were conducted throughout this festival. 
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