West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee appealed to foreign filmmakers worldwide to make their films in Bengal and collaborate with local talent, as she inaugurated the 30th edition of the Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) on Wednesday.
“We wanted to dedicate this year’s festival to our international friends… I humbly request all of you to please see that talent in Bengal is sky-high. Please utilise them. Please depict the beauty and diversity of Bengal in your films, from the mountains to the Bay of Bengal,” the Chief Minister said.
“Please show our country through your cinema too. Generate employment for people here and inspire collaboration between your artists and ours,” she added.
The festival opened with the screening of the 1966 Bengali classic ‘Galpo Holeo Satti‘ by Tapan Sinha, at the Dhono Dhanyo Auditorium in Kolkata.
Between December 5 and December 11, as many as 175 films from 29 countries will be screened across multiple venues in the city as part of the 30th KIFF. Film enthusiasts can also attend screenings of 21 films from France, KIFF’s focus country this year.
In her address at the KIFF inaugural ceremony, the Chief Minister also said that Bengali films will be celebrated alongside international films with equal fervour.
The inaugural ceremony saw the presence of celebrities like Sourav Ganguly, Sabitri Chatterjee, Madhabi Mukherjee, Ranjit Mullick, Shatrughan Sinha, Moon Moon Sen, Sabyasachi Chakraborty, Deepankar De, and others.
However, like last year, KIFF regulars Shahrukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan gave the inaugural ceremony a miss this year. “AmitabhJi is unwell,” the Chief Minister said at the opening ceremony on Wednesday.
Salman Khan, Anil Kapoor, and Sonakshi Sinha, who were present at the opening ceremony last year, were also absent this year.
Through film screenings, exhibitions and discussions, the 30th edition of KIFF will also offer centenary tributes to renowned film personalities like Tapan Sinha, Marlon Brando, Marcello Mastroianni, Sergei Parajanov, Mohammed Rafi, Talat Mahmood, and others.
Old classics will also be screened as part of the festival’s special tribute to Kumar Shahani, Manoj Mitra, Gautam Halder, Alain Delon, Anup Kumar Mukhopadhyay, and Utpalendu Chakraborty.
Some of the films from these two categories would be projected to the big screen directly from their original celluloid.
“Cinema is a collective memory of time. In the coming days, we will witness this memory with feature films, short films and documentaries from various countries of the world,” renowned filmmaker and chairperson of the 30th KIFF Goutam Ghose said on Wednesday. “Alongside this, numerous seminars, symposiums, and discussions will enrich our understanding.”
Meanwhile, winners of the competitive sections of the film festival are slated to be declared on December 11. Winners of different categories will take home the Royal Bengal Tiger Trophy, the Hiralal Sen Memorial Trophy, and the NETPAC Award, along with prize money.
Published – December 05, 2024 04:43 am IST
