The first ever Bharat-Bangladesh Film Award will be held at International Convention City Bashundhara (ICCB) in Dhaka on October 21.

East West Media Group and ATN Bangla of Bangladesh are the media partners of the film award.

Film Federation of India (FFI) President Firdausal Hasan made the announcement during a press conference in the city on September 11.

Popular actor Alamgir Hossain, actress Sarah Begum Kabori, novelist and editor of daily Kaler Kantho Imdadul Haq Milan and executive committee member of Film Federation of India Tapan Roy, among others, were present on the occasion.

Bengali movies released between June 2018 to June 2019 in Bangladesh and India will be nominated for the award.

A total of 24 awards under three categories, including popular, technical and regional, will be given in the award programme.

The awards are- best movies, best producer, best actor and actress, best co-actor and co-actress, best music, best musician (male and female), popular film of the year, popular actor and actress of the year, life time achievement, best movie story, best producer and best editor.

A jury committee, consisting of filmmaker Goutam Ghosh, actor-director Bratya Basu, actress Tanushree Chakraborty will select the Bengali films nominated for awards in Indian part. And in Bangladesh, a jury comprised of popular actor Alamgir Hossain, Sarah Begum Kabori, Imdadul Haq Milan, Film Producers' Association president Khorshed Alam Khasru and film producer Hasibur Reza Kallol will select the Bengali films nominated for awards in Bangladesh part.

Speakers at the programme praised the Bashundhara Group, the country's leading business conglomerate, for this initiative. Addressing the programme, guests also said this kind of award programme will boost the relationship between the artistes of the two neighbouring countries.