Filmmaker Mira Nair’s Queen of Katwe (2016) and director Reema Kagti’s Gold (2018) are among the 30 films to be screened at this year’s International Sports Film Festival of India, scheduled to take place from February 4 to 8 at Nandan in Kolkata.
The festival lineup includes movies from 16 countries, including USA, India, Russia, China, Iran, UK, Mexico and Australia.
While Queen of Katwe is set in the slums of Uganda, Gold chronicles the Indian hockey team's journey from the 1936 Berlin Olympics to their first gold medal win at the 1948 London Olympics.
Queen of Katwe follows Phiona Mutesi (Madina Nalwanga), a 10-year-old girl living in the slums of Katwe. She faces daily struggles alongside her mother and siblings. Their lives change when she meets Coach Robert Katende, who introduces her to chess. Under his mentorship, Phiona excels in the game, competing successfully against local and national opponents.
The film also stars David Oyelowo and Lupita Nyong'o in key roles.
Gold, on the other hand, centers on Tapan Das (Akshay Kumar), the assistant manager, who, after the partition of India, faces team struggles as players split between Pakistan and Australia. Despite these challenges, Tapan builds a new team and trains them, leading to conflicts over player selection.
Mouni Roy and Kunal Kapoor round off the cast of Gold.
Ira Deokule’s Athletes Are Mad, Adam Lapallo’s Untouchable, Rosaura Aranda’s Until Death, Dmitry Vingursky’s Believe in a Dream, and Arnab Riingo Banerjee’s Messi are among the other films to be screened at the festival.