Day 789: Screenings, Interviews, 10 Years & Hubby!

After breakfast, my editor and I as well as other delegates were brought to the festival venue. Upon reaching the venue we realized that the Mausams posters, which were meant to be up on the noticeboards by now, were still not to be found on them. Upon asking about its whereabouts to the volunteer who took the posters from us, he directed us to another volunteer who in turn directed us to another and this went on for a while. Needless to say we started to get frustrated! To think that we took so much trouble to get the posters printed just the yesterday, only to lose them without ever getting them on the noticeboards! Ugh!

Just as all the leads seemed to have gotten exhausted, I loudly wondered where on earth such big posters could possibly have disappeared to. Just as I was saying it, I looked around the information desk tent we were standing at and my eyes fell on an unruly pile of papers lying around in one corner of a long desk there. Almost immediately the editor pounced on the pile, rummaged through it and almost as if by magic, pulled a huge brown envelope from beneath that mess. We got our posters!

We didn't waste any time after that. We immediately put them up - one on the notice board at the festival ticketing board and one just outside the public library auditorium which was the primary venue for the festival and where Mausams was to be screened.

After successfully completing this task, the editor and I found a quiet spot and did some editing for the short film we were working on. We couldn't progress much because the quiet spot very soon ceased to be quiet with the arrival of a few other delegates. So we packed up the editing and went to catch a movie and thereafter went for lunch.

For lunch, amongst other things, they served the very yummy Kachchi Mutton Biriyani which is a Bengladeshi speciality. Apparently there are only two chefs in the whole of Dhaka who make the authentic Kachchi Biriyani, and our lunch was done by one of them! Needless to say, it was a real treat!

Post lunch, I went in to watch another movie while the editor decided to hang out outside with some delegates, volunteers etc. The movie I caught was this insanely good Iranian film Santori (the director of which was the chief guest at the festival and I had the good fortune to meet). It was Seriously-Awesome-Stuff! I was gulping at the sheer excellence of the performances, music, direction etc. when the editor came in and told me that I was needed for a couple of interviews.

So leaving Santori behind, I made my way out. The first interview was for the festival daily bulletin and the second one was for ATN News which is a TV news channel. After giving both the interviews, posing for a few photos for the bulletin and enjoying the tea that the first interviewer kindly got us, we went for another movie screening - this time a highly critically acclaimed Indian film whose makers we had just met at the festival.

After that well made, thought provoking film, it was time for dinner again - this time hosted by the Swiss Ambassador himself!

So once again, the delegates were packed into various vans and driven to a posh area called Gulshan which is were the rich and famous of Dhaka reside. It was also here that the Swiss embassy was located, where we were to have our dinner party. The embassy and the Ambassador's residence were very tastefully done up and the ambassador and his wife themselves were a really cool, unassuming, super friendly couple! They had also arranged for a folk dance of Bangladesh to be performed at the embassy as entertainment for the delegates and it was pretty much the first and only exposure we got of the country's performing arts culture. The music they played was very upbeat and several of the volunteers and delegates danced away with them!

It was soon time for the arrival of the hubby, who would be reaching just in time for the Mausams screening tomorrow and probably as importantly, just in time for celebrating our 10th year anniversary as a couple tonight! It was 10 years ago today that the dude officially asked me out and I accepted!

After a few phonecalls to sort out the whereabouts of his missing receiver at the airport, the hubby managed to make it to the Swiss embassy in time for dinner. By now, the story that it is our 10th year anniversary and that he, who is also the co-producer and actor in the movie, is about to arrive, had spread around and everyone who was "dying to meet him" crowded around him and gave him a warm welcome!

After dinner, which was an amazing spread of authentic Srilankan food, it was time for the long journey back to the hotel. During the journey, the editor and I filled in the hubby with all that he had missed over the last few days. It was great to have him be part of the festival as well!

A very eventful, fun day and tomorrow, it's Mausams screening at the 12th DIFF 2012!

211 more to go.