The 2025 edition of Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) will kickoff on November 6 with Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen-starrer Saptapadi as the inaugural film, West Bengal minister Aroop Biswas announced at a press meet on Tuesday.
The week-long event is set to begin on November 6 and will conclude on November 13. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will inaugurate the festival, followed by a performance by Dona Ganguly at the opening ceremony.
Today’s press meet was also attended by actors Prosenjit Chatterjee, Koel Mallick and June Malia.
Sharmila Tagore, Shatrughan Sinha, and Ramesh Sippy are expected to attend as special guests, while June Malia and Parambrata Chattopadhyay will host the event. The festival will also celebrate 50 years of the Bollywood classic Sholay.
This year's festival will have a retrospective of Ritwik Ghatak’s films to celebrate his birth centenary. Komal Gandhar and Subarnarekha will be screened alongside Bari Theke Paliye and Pinjra.
This year, the organisers have selected Poland as their theme, and the festival’s tagline reads, ‘Cinema Meets the World.’
Tributes will also be paid to Guru Dutt, Santosh Dutta, and Salil Chowdhury on their centenaries. Special tributes will also be paid to Shyam Benegal, David Lynch, Arun Roy, Raja Mitra, and Shashi Anand.
Out of 1,827 film entries, 215 films from 39 countries have been selected, including 185 feature films and 30 short films. The musical segment, formerly known as Cine Adda, returns this year under a new name — “Gane Gane Cinema”, featuring performances by renowned Bengali musicians from November 7 to 12 at the Ektara stage.
