KIFF to highlight 100 years of Bengali cinema in style
Kolkata: The Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) is going to celebrate the 100 years of Bangla Cinema during the 24th KIFF commencing from November 10. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will inaugurate the 24th KIFF at Netaji Indoor Stadium on November 10 with superstars like Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan gracing the occasion. The focus country of this year's festival is Australia and Tunisia will be the "Special Focus" country.
On Saturday, chief advisor Aroop Biswas informed that at KIFF, 14 iconic Bengali films will be screened from November 11 to November 17. The celebration will start by screening of Antony Firingee. He also informed that this year, the number of screens have been increased to 16, compared to last year's 14. "This year, KIFF screening will be available in 16 screens. The PVR Cinema of Howrah and Dum Dum have been included in the list," said Biswas.
During the press conference, Minister of State for Information and Cultural Affairs (I&CA) Indranil Sen informed that apart from screening of Bengali films, a film directory will be published during the festival. It will contain information of Bengali films between the years 1917 and 2017. Also a theatre will be staged on the first Bengali filmmaker Hiralal Sen. The act Hiralaler Bioscope will be staged at Madhusudan Mancha on November 15.
"Apart from the directory, publishing and staging the act, present day singers will pay their tribute to the legendary singers in the Jalshaghar section. Also a coffee table book will be published in Bengali and English," said Sen.
During the press conference, actor Prosenjit Chatterjee, Rituparna Sengupta, film director Goutam Ghosh and Vivek Kumar, the Principal Secretary of the I&CA department were also present on the stage. Chatterjee informed that next year, the KIFF will be celebrating its Silver Jubilee. He also said that this year's film festival is the biggest in KIFF history as the number of films to be screened is the highest, namely 321. "This year's festival is the trailer. The main film will be shown next year during the Silver Jubilee celebration," he added.
