Amidst the ongoing Covid scare the state Information and Cultural Affairs Department shared some much-needed positive news for the cinephiles of the city. The 27 Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) under the department is to be held from 7 to 14 January with 50 per cent occupancy at the screening venues.
The event, which would have been a grand affair in pre-Covid times, has now been toned down. The KIFF that is usually marked by the presence of numerous nationally and internationally acclaimed actors, directors, singers, scriptwriters and other members of the film fraternity, is to be a low-key affair.
According to official sources, the presence of stars like Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan, who are regular faces at the inaugural ceremony, is not yet confirmed. Like the previous edition, the inaugural ceremony of the 27 KIFF is to be held virtually on 7 January at 4 p.m from Nabanna by chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
According to Indranil Sen, minister of state for Information and Cultural Affairs Department, the festival is to be held at 10 venues including Nandan-I, II, III, Rabindra Sadan, Sisir Mancha, Rabindra Okakura Bhavan, Chalachitra Satabarsha Bhawan and Kolkata Information Centre Nazrul Tirtha I and II.
“One hundred sixty films and 200 shows are to be screened at the film festival,” informed Mr Sen at a Press conference today. “The movie, Aranyer Din Ratri (1970) will be screened as the inaugural film at Rabindra Sadan at 5.30pm on 7 January,” added the minister.
As informed by Mr Santanu Basu, secretary of the department, about 1698 entries were received for films including feature and documentary from 71 countries. Of this, hand-picked movies from 42 countries including India are to be screened this year with Finland as the focus country.
Apart from this, resuming the ‘Unheard India’ category, seven films in Indian languages like Santhali, Rajbanshi, Bodo, Kodava, Konkani. Tulu and so on are also to be screened.