Riya
The annual Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) is a must-visit annual trip for cinephiles and also a yearly delight for movie lovers. This year it is the 26th edition of KIFF which is starting from 8th January 2021. It was scheduled to take place from 5th to 12th November 2020, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it has been rescheduled from 8th to 15th January 2021. In view of the pandemic, it has been designed in a smarter frame giving due importance to the social distancing. This 26th edition of KIFF proposed primarily in online mode for the actors, cine lovers, cine critics, and others.
The Kolkata Film Festival was started in 1995 and was the culmination of a film society movement that drew its inspiration from the masters of Bengali Cinema – Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak, and Mrinal Sen.
Previously, the KIFF was prestigious but it was a comparatively small event and hence it could not reach a large audience. Since 2011, in terms of profile, publicity, and reach the festival has reached a whole new level. The KIFF grew into a larger and more inclusive celebration of cinema, which is not only just grand in scale but also accessible to the common mass.
This year Shah Rukh Khan virtually inaugurated 26th Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) on the first day of the festival. Academy Awards winner filmmaker Satyajit Ray’s timeless classic, ‘Apur Sansar’ screened at the inauguration and also a special tribute paid to the late legendry Indian Film actor, Soumitra Chatterjee, who passed away due to Covid-19 complications on 15th November 2020. Special tributes are also paid to Amala Shankar, Basu Chatterjee, Fernando Solanas, Irfan Khan, Rishi Kapoor, Tapas Pal, and Kim Ki Duk.
A total of 131 films of different countries — in feature, short and documentary formats — will be screened at different theatres of the city, including Nandan, Rabindra Sadan, Sisir Mancha, and many more. A total of 1,170 entries from 45 countries were received, of which 131 have been selected for the Film Carnival.
