Daijiworld Media Network - Kolkata
Kolkata, Oct 28: The 31st Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) is set to light up the city from November 6 to 13, with 215 films from 39 countries being screened across 20 venues.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will inaugurate the festival alongside leading figures from the Bengali and Hindi film industries. The event will open with the screening of the Bengali classic Saptapadi (1961), starring Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen.
At a press conference held at Nandan on Tuesday, officials revealed that this year’s selection includes 185 feature films and 30 short films, in 18 Indian and 30 foreign languages, including Konkani, Boro, Tulu, and Santali.
The festival will also mark centenary tributes to cinematic legends Ritwik Ghatak, Guru Dutt, Santosh Dutt, Raj Khosla, Salil Chowdhury, and Richard Burton.
Special retrospectives will honour Shyam Benegal, David Lynch, Arun Roy, Raja Mitra, and Shashi Anand, while veteran filmmaker Ramesh Sippy will deliver the ‘Satyajit Ray Memorial Lecture’ to commemorate 50 years of Sholay.
Fifteen international films will have their Indian premieres at KIFF this year, and a restored version of Satyajit Ray’s Aranyer Din Raatri will be screened on November 8 at Nandan.
The festival promises to be a vibrant celebration of world cinema, concluding on November 13.