The recent spurt in Covid cases has resulted in downsizing of the 27th Kolkata International Film Festival. But the show will go on from January 7, say organisers.
A total of 161 films and 46 foreign films from 42 countries, including India, will be screened over a week at 10 venues in Nandan, Rabindra Sadan, Sisir Mancha, Chalachchitra Satabarsha Bhavan, Calcutta Information Centre, Rabindra Okakura Bhavan and Nazrul Tirtha.
“We had to reduce the number of films and shows to have time between shows to sanitise the hall. Paray Paray Cinema (screenings in different localities) will not be held. The inauguration is going virtual even after invitations were sent out to guests like the Bachchans and Shabana Azmi. There might be just three days of Cine Adda outdoors with 50 seats,” festival apex committee member Arindam Sil told Metro on the sidelines of a meet on Tuesday.
An attempt was being made to bring all 27 living cast and crew members of Satyajit Ray together for a birth centenary special adda and felicitation on January 8 at Rabindra Sadan at 3pm. “We have 13 confirmations so far,” he added.
Ray’s Aranyer Dinratri will be screened at Rabindra Sadan after the inauguration is done virtually by the chief minister from Nabanna on Friday at 4pm. Filmmaker Shoojit Sircar will deliver the Satyajit Ray Memorial Lecture on January 11 at Sisir Mancha, at 3pm. Three of Ray’s films will be the topic of a discussion at Bangla Akademi, the other two being on the recently departed filmmakers Buddhadeb Dasgupta and Kim Ki-duk.
Centenary tribute will be paid to Ray through screening of his films, as also to Chidananda Dasgupta through Portrait of A City and Amodini, both directed by him, and Hungarian filmmaker Miklos Jansco through his Electra, My Love.
Special tributes will be paid to Buddhadeb Dasgupta, Dilip Kumar, Jean Paul Belmondo, Jean Claude Carriere, Swatilekha Sengupta and Sumitra Bhave.
An exhibition on Ray will be held at the Nandan foyer and Nazrul Tirtha. Another exhibition at Gaganendra Pradarshashala will pay tribute to Chidananda Dasgupta, Miklos Jansco, Buddhadeb Dasgupta, Dilip Kumar and Swatilekha Sengupta.
There will be 59 films in competition for the Royal Bengal Golden Tiger trophy and cash awards in respective categories, said KIFF director general Santanu Basu.
Some of the finest contemporary films will be screened outside competition, like Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Memoria, which premiered at Cannes, Pedro Almadovar’s Parallel Mothers, which opened the festival at Venice, and Asghar Farhadi’s A Hero, which won the Grand Prix at Cannes. The focus country is Finland, with a bouquet of six films.
Occupancy at all venues will be 50 per cent.
“The films may be less in number but will not lack in quality,” stressed committee member Parambrata Chattopadhyay.
