# Zakir Hossain Raju

Zakir Hossain Raju (Bengali: জাকির হোসেন রাজু) is a Bangladeshi academic, film critic and filmmaker. He currently serves as a member of the Bangladesh Film Certification Board, Expert Committee member of the Bangladesh Film Archive, Director of the King Sejong Institute, Bangladesh & Head of the Media and Communication department at Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB). He also served as NETPAC jury chair for the Asian cinema category at the 80th Venice International Film Festival, the International Film Festival Rotterdam, and the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival.

## Early life and academic career

Raju was born and raised in Dhaka, Bangladesh. He obtained his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Mass Communication from the University of Dhaka. Later, he earned his Ph.D. in Cinema Studies from La Trobe University in Australia. Throughout his academic career, Raju has held various positions, including Research Fellow at Transparency International Bangladesh in 2005, Ford Foundation, ASIA Fellow at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur in 2007, and Curriculum Advisor for Wawasan Open University in Malaysia from 2011 to 2012. Currently, he teaches at Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB).

## Publications

Raju is recognized as an academic of Bangladeshi screen industries. His publications have appeared in respected journals and anthologies like South Asian Journal, Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Arts Criticism (Chinese-language journal published by Beijing Art Academy), Cinemaya: Asian Film Journal, Bangladesh Film Archive Journal, Journal of Chinese Cinemas and The Journal of Press Institute of Bangladesh.

### Books

In English
* Raju, Zakir Hossain (2004). National Cinema, Cultural Identity and Public Sphere: Rewriting Bangladesh Film History (PhD thesis). La Trobe University. OCLC 388032437.
* —— (2014). Bangladesh Cinema and National Identity: In Search of the Modern?. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-60181-4. Retrieved 18 October 2024.
In Bengali
* Ganamadhame Muktijuddo Published by Jagrity Prokashoni
* Chalachitrar Chalchitra Published by Jagrity Prokashoni

### Chapters and articles

* Raju, Zakir Hossain (1998). "Significance of News Elements". The Journal of Press Institute of Bangladesh. 74: 36–37.
* —— (2011). "Multiple Islams, multiple modernities". In Weintraub, Andrew N. (ed.). Islam and Popular Culture in Indonesia and Malaysia. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9780203829004. ISBN 978-0-203-82900-4. S2CID 142722115.
* —— (1 December 2012). "Indigenization of Cinema in (Post)Colonial South Asia". Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East. 32 (3): 611–621. doi:10.1215/1089201X-1891606.
* —— (2017). "Identity and Sovereignty in Asian Art Cinema". In Howland, Douglas; Lillehoj, Elizabeth; Mayer, Maximilian (eds.). Art and Sovereignty in Global Politics. Palgrave Macmillan US. pp. 217–238. doi:10.1057/978-1-349-95016-4_9. ISBN 978-1-349-95015-7.
* —— (2022). "Film in Bangladesh: Cultural Transformation of a National Cinema within and beyond the Nation-state". In Khondker, Habibul; Muurlink, Olav; Ali, Asif Bin (eds.). The Emergence of Bangladesh. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 387–404. ISBN 978-981-16-5520-3.

## Filmography

Raju has been involved in the scripting, production, and direction of various short films and documentaries. His film Michiler Mukh (1991), a documentary on 1990 Mass Uprising in Bangladesh, after the recent Non-cooperation movement (2024) a group of like-minded young filmmakers, students organized an open screening of the film alongside My Bicycle, banned by the Censor Board of Bangladesh directed by Aung Rakhine. In 1992, this film got selected in Focus on Asia Fukuoka International Film Festival. Beyond the Borders (1995) a documentary on the Bengali diaspora, got selected in Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival. Additionally, Raju and Piplu Khan as producers, are currently engaged in the development of a film project titled Summer in Shizuoka, Winter in Dhaka.
| Year | Title | Director | Screenwriter | Producer | Notes |
| 1991 | Face in the Millions (Michiler Mukh) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Documentary film portraying the 1990s popular upheaval against military autocracy in Bangladesh. |
| 1992 | Miles to Go | Yes | Yes | Yes | Documentary film on the perception of ordinary people about political process amid the 1991 elections under the first non-party caretaker government. |
| 1993 | Tale of a Woman | Yes | Yes | Yes | Documentary film on how women are leading social transformation in rural Bangladesh. |
| 1995 | Beyond the Borders | Yes | Yes | Yes | Documentary film on intercultural Bangladeshi-Japanese families in Japan and Bangladesh. |
| 1996 | Images under the Shadows | Yes | Yes | Yes | Documentary film on media and gender in Bangladesh. |
| 1998 | Beijing Conference and Women in Bangladesh | Yes | Yes | Yes | Documentary film on the impact of the 1995 Women's Conference in Beijing on women's movement in Bangladesh. |
| 2023 | Summer in Shizuoka, Winter in Dhaka | Yes | Yes | Yes | This Documentary film currently in Development. |

## Involvement in film organizations and festivals

Raju serves as a board member of NETPAC along with Golam Rabbany Biplob from Bangladesh and was appointed as the NETPAC jury chair for the Asian cinema category at the 80th Venice International Film Festival. Raju currently serves as Vice President of the International Film Initiative of Bangladesh and is a former president of the Bangladesh Short Film Forum. In addition, Raju has been invited as a jury president and member in various international film festivals, including the Hawaii International Film Festival, the International Film Festival Rotterdam, the Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema, and the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival with Mostofa Sarwar Farooki.