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CM Mamata Banerjee (centre) at the inauguration on Thursday
Photos: Amit DattaThe 31st Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) was inaugurated on 6 November at Dhono Dhanyo Auditorium by veteran actor Shatrughan Sinha in the presence of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, former cricketer Sourav Ganguly, singer Arati Mukherjee, filmmakers Ramesh Sippy and Sujoy Ghosh.
Actress Tillotama Shome was also present on the occasion, alongside a galaxy of Tollywood stars, including Prosenjit Chatterjee, Rituparna Sengupta, Soham Chakraborty, Paoli Dam, Koel Mallick and Dev.
Goutam Ghose, chairman of 31st KIFF was also present on the dais, apart from Ranjit Mallick, Lily Chakraborty, Chiranjeet Chakraborty, Kiran Sippy. Parambrata Chattopadhyay and June Maliah hosted the inaugural ceremony.
The Uttam Kumar and Suchita Sen-starrer Saptapadi is the inaugural film this year. A total of 215 films will be showcased — in 18 Indian and 30 foreign languages — across 20 screens throughout Kolkata. Poland is this year’s focus country.
The films will be screened at Nandan, Rabindra Sadan, Sisir Mancha, Rabindra Okakura Bhavan, Radha Studio, Nazrul Tirtha, Navina, Star Theatre, Menoka, Ajanta, PVR Mani Square, Inox Metro, Inox Quest, Inox South City, Globe, New Empire, and Prachi.
A centenary tribute will be paid to Ritwik Ghatak at this year’s festival. Tributes will also be paid to centenarians Richard Burton, Santosh Dutta, Salil Chowdhury, Raj Khosla, Sam Peckinpah, and Wojciech Has.
Special tributes will be paid to Robert Redford, Claudia Cardinale, David Lynch, Shyam Benegal, Arun Roy, Raja Mitra, and Shashi Anand.
