“Amitabh Bachchan Should Be Given Bharat Ratna”- CM Mamata Banerjee
“From this inaugural program of the 28th KIFF, I will like to urge the government to give the Bharat Ratna award to Amitabh Bachchan. He is an icon who makes all of us proud with his works and achievements” said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at the inaugural of the 28th Kolkata International Film Festival.
The inaugural event of the film festival was organized at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose indoor stadium.
The festival was inaugurated in the presence of Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Mahesh Bhatt, Rani Mukerji, Kumar Sanu, Jaya Bachchan, Shatrughan Sinha, Arijit Singh, and Sourav Ganguly.
The inaugural film was Abhimaan which starred Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan in pivotal roles.
1078 films from 57 countries applied for participating in the 28th KIFF. 183 films from 42 countries, including 130 feature films and 52 short and documentary films have been selected.
66 films will be there in the competition section and 114 films including the inaugural film will be there in the non-competition section.
231 shows in 14 categories will be shown during the seven days of the film festival.
The festival will pay homage to Jean-Luc Godard, pioneer of the French New Wave, and centenary tribute to Alan Resnais, Peir Paolo Pasolini, Michael Cacoyannis, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Asit Sen, Bharati Devi, K. Asif, Ali Akbar Khan, Dilip Kumar.
The special tribute will be paid to Tarun Majumdar, Angela Lansbury, Pradip Mukherjee, and Shiv Kumar Sharma.
There will be a special category “Game On” on 28th KIFF. The film festival will screen 7 films to celebrate youth and spirit in society, a new initiative for promoting sports.
The 28th KIFF will pay homage to the living legend, Amitabh Bachchan, by screening 9 films of the legendary actor in the Retrospective category.
The Satyajit Ray Memorial Lecture will be delivered on 18th December at 4 pm at Sisir Mancha by Sudhir Mishra. He will speak on “Understanding Cinema in Changing Times of OTT”.
Two exhibitions will be there at the film festival. They are:
- Amitabh Bachchan- A Living Legend at Gaganendra Pradarshashala and Nazrul Tirtha
- Jean-Luc Godard- The Immortal Object of Art at Nandan Foyer and Nazrul Tirtha.
The Cine Adda will take from 17th to 21st December from 6 pm onwards at Ektara Mancha, Nandan, Rabindra Sadan complex
The venues where the films will be screened include Nandan I, Nandan II, Nandan III, Rabindra Sadan, Sisir Mancha, Paschim Banga bangle Akademi Sabhaghar (Talk Show and Masterclass), Radha Studio (Cinema Centenary Building), Rabindra Okakura Bhavan, Nazrul Tirtha I and Nazrul Tirtha II.
The closing ceremony will take place on 22nd December at Rabindra Sadan at 6.30 pm.
Picture Courtesy-Mamata Banerjee’s Official Facebook Account
Priyanka Dutta