Event name: River Talkies 2: Influence of rivers on Culture, Art and Artist

Date: 22 June, 2021

Place: Khagail Durga Mandir, by the right bank of Buriganga in Kamrangirchar, Dhaka

Overview of the event: Waterkeepers Bangladesh (WKB) consortium is currently implementing a robust anti-pollution advocacy project to monitor water, air and noise pollution in Dhaka city. WKB Consortium is implementing the project in collaboration with USAID, FCDO and Counterpart International. The project planned to organize nine river talkies as part of advocacy activity.

The second river talkie was organized in Khagail Durga Mandir, by the right bank of Buriganga in Kamrangirchar, Dhaka. This river talkie was a talk show program, which was staged adjacent to a hindu temple and broadcasted live. The show was expected to bring river pollution into the mainstream policy discussion involving various sectors and professions. The talk would help adding values to the overall advocacy campaign. The show was broadcasted live on 22nd June from 12.40 - 1.24 pm. The show was broadcasted live on WKB Facebook page (  / waterkeepersbangladesh  ) and Nodi Tv’s Facebook page (  / noditvbd  ) . There was total of 50 participants at the show consisting of 8 females and 42 males. The participant profile covered CSO and CBO leaders, scholars, community members, media and private sectors. The show was covered by electronic and print media. A total of five electronic and print media published news about the show. As per Facebook analytics, the show was viewed by more than six hundred viewers till date and shared fourteen times. This illustrates the success of the show and how well it was received by the audience. The six hundred views that the talkie has received is purely organic as there is no boosting done. The topic for the second river talkie was “Influence of rivers on Culture, Art and Artist”. WKB consortium lead Sharif Jamil anchored the show. He welcomed and briefed about the concept of the river talkie and project. The river talkie show had four guests namely Hasan Masood, Bangladeshi actor and social activist, Nazmun Nahar Keya, visual artist and Lecturer Jagannath University, Abir Abdullah, documentary photographer and photo editor, Daily Prothom Alo and Moktadir Ibne Salam, filmmaker. Hasan Masood shared his personal experience how the river has influenced his life, encroachment and pollution of Buriganga. While filmmaker Moktadir Ibne Salam spoke about his film “Ronger Duniya '' and other works are based on rivers and haors. Abir Abdullah reflected his viewpoints on rivers from the lens. Nazmun Nahar Keya explained how the river is closely associated with an artist and her/his work. Sharif Jamil summed up the show with a call for action and urging the artist to come forward with cultural and social movement to save the rivers.