215 films to be screened at 31st Kolkata International Film Festival

Kolkata, Oct 28 As many as 215 films from 39 countries will be screened at the 31st Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) across 20 venues in the city.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, along with film personalities from the Bengali film industry and Bollywood, will inaugurate the festival on November 6 at an auditorium in Kolkata.

Bengali classic 'Saptapadi' (1961), starring Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen, has been selected as the inaugural film at the festival, which will be screened shortly after the inaugural ceremony.

On Tuesday, a press conference was held at Nandan to announce the schedule and details of the film festival.

Bengali superstar Prosenjit Chatterjee, state ministers Aroop Biswas and Indranil Sen; director Haranath Chakraborty, actors Koel Mallick and June Mallia; and others were present.

This year's film festival will screen 215 films selected from a total of 39 countries, including India. Of which 185 are full-length films and 30 are short films.

Films in 18 Indian languages ​​and 30 foreign languages ​​will be screened this year. Films in various dialects, including Konkani, Boro, Tulu, Santali, will be screened.

The centenary of noted filmmakers, actors and music directors such as Ritwik Ghatak, Guru Dutt, Santosh Dutt, Raj Khosla, Salil Chowdhury, and Richard Burton will be celebrated.

Special honours will be given to works of Shyam Benegal, David Lynch, Arun Roy, Raja Mitra and Shashi Anand.

Veteran filmmaker Ramesh Sippy will deliver the ‘Satyajit Ray Memorial Lecture’ on the occasion of 50 years of ‘Sholay’.

Meanwhile, 15 contemporary foreign films will be screened for the first time at this festival. Several films of Ritwik Ghatak will be screened on the occasion of his centenary celebrations.

The restored version of Satyajit Ray's (Aranyer Din Raatri) will be screened at Nandan on November 8. The festival will conclude on November 13.

--IANS

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