Amidst rising cases of COVID-19, the West Bengal government has decided to go ahead with the 27th Kolkata International Film Festival where 200 films will be screened across ten venues in the city starting January 7.
The inaugural film will Satyajit Ray’s 1970 classic Aranyer Din Ratri. The festival will offer centenary tribute to Satyajit Ray, Chidananda Dasgupta and Hungarian filmmaker Miklós Jancsó. It will also pay special tribute to Buddhadeb Dasgupta, Dilip Kumar and Jean Paul Belmondo among others.
Finland is going to be theme country for the festival this year. Six films from Finland will be screened. Fifty-nine films will be screened in the competitive section.
Along with the venues at Nandan cultural complex in the city, films will be screened at Nazrul Mancha and a few other venues.
The Kolkata International Film Festival used to be a mega event where actors from Bollywood would participate in the opening and closing ceremony. However, this time the festival is likely to be a muted event.
The festival will conclude on January 14.
Ganga Sagar Mela
While the State government has decided to go ahead with the film festival, questions are being raised about the Ganga Sagar Mela which will be held in the second week of January.
A doctor has filed a petition before Calcutta High Court challenging the State government’s decision to hold the annual pilgrimage. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had said that she could not stop or impose curbs on the Mela as it was not a State government event and people from all across the country participated in it. A number of public health experts have written to Chief Minister urging her to stop the gathering.
About 20 lakh people gather on the Sagar Island at the confluence of river Ganga and the Bay of Bengal on the occasion of Makar Sankranti.
