Just a month before the Kolkata international film festival is to be inaugurated, the city is ready to host the 19th Kalpanirjhar International Short Fiction Film Festival that would seek to impress the cinephiles with a host of cinema from the best of creative minds across the globe.
The festival, organised by Kalpanirjhar Foundation, Max Mueller Bhavan, Goethe Institut, and Caring Minds (Patton Group), starts on 7 December at the Satyajit Ray Auditorium, ICCR, Kolkata. Talking about what keeps the genre of short film running besides full-length feature films, Mr SV Raman, the festival director, told The Statesman, “Every renowned director goes back to short films once in a while. It is like going back to basics and churning out content that tells a story in the best possible way in the shortest span of time. This is an art in itself.”
“The world of short films in our country has gained more prominence in recent years. It has become a platform that has encouraged young filmmakers to launch themselves” he added.
The film festival will screen a total of 80 films from 25 countries. The running time for the shortest film is 13 seconds and the longest, 30 minutes. About 54 films in the ‘World Cinema’ category will be screened while a selection of 11 short films from Germany has been selected under the section ‘New Generation Short Tiger meets ‘Kalpanirjhar’. Amid this, a special tribute will be paid to filmmaker and poet Buddhadeb Dasgupta on the closing day with a screening of one of his short films. Additionally, 10 shortlisted Indian films will be competing for the Patton Award for the ‘Best Indian Film’ and the Kalpanirjhar Award for the second-best Indian film.
The jury members comprise Anjan Bose, Sourav Sarangi and Sabarni Das. The festival will continue till 11 December. Talking about the covid protocols, Mr Raman said we will follow all standard covid protocols which include compulsory wearing of masks and screening with a 70 per cent seating capacity.