International short fiction film festival greets Kolkata cinephiles
Kolkata: In a bid to cheer up the cinephiles after the recently-concluded Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF), an international short fiction film festival has kicked off in the city at the Goethe Institut, Max Mueller Bhavan.
The 21st Kalpanirjhar International Short Fiction Film Festival, organised jointly by the Kalpanirjhar Foundation and Goethe-Institut, Max Mueller Bhavan Kolkata, is screening a total of 45 films from 16 countries till December 16.
The shortest film is four minutes and the longest 30 minutes. The ‘World Cinema’ category has a selection of 33 films from various countries, including six recent films from Spain from ‘Navarra Shortzinema’, a bagful of 10 films from different countries provided by the Goethe-Institut Kolkata. In the Indian Selections category, 12 shortlisted Indian films are competing for the Kalpanirjhar Award for the Best Indian Film.
Friday’s screening schedule includes films focusing on themes: History/Aspirations/Anxieties. The screening is divided into two slots of 4:30 pm and 6:30 pm. More than 18 films are scheduled for the day.
The director of the festival, Raju Raman (S V Raman), said: “Such a festival is rare since it features short films which are fiction based. Documentaries and full-length feature films are renowned, comparatively but the opportunity to pack your mammoth and creative ideas in the short time frame is a thrown gauntlet that every director loves to pick up from time to time to add more finesse to their art of film-making.”
It was reminded that the eminent late French auteur, Jean-Luc Godard, mainly associated with the French New Wave cinema, began his career with a host of short films, the first being ‘Une Femme Coquette’.
Similarly, the eminent Spanish-Mexican auteur, Luis Bunuel’s first project was the short film ‘Un Chien Andalou’ which was jointly written by him and the painter Salvador Dali. This became a seminal work in the world of surrealist cinema.
Started in 2002, the Kalpanirjhar International Short Fiction Film Festival was the brainchild of the eminent Bengali auteur, Goutam Ghose who was impressed during his visit to the Capalbio International Short Film Festival, in Italy, and suggested the same could be organised here for the cine lovers of Kolkata.
