The first edition of the French Film Festival will take place in Kolkata. This was announced at a press conference that was graced by Didier Talpain, Consul General Of France In Kolkata, Nicolas Facino, Director, Alliance Francaise Du Bengale, and others.

Didier Talpain said “We are very enthusiastic about this inaugural edition of the film festival. This festival was missing from the cultural landscape of the city and with this festival, that void will be fulfilled. This is a promising enterprise that has a large scope.

The inaugural ceremony will take place on 16^th February at 6 pm at Nandan 1. Indranil Sen, Santana Basu, Sharmistha Banerjee, Didier Talpain, Nicolas Facino, Anil Kapoor, Anurag Kashyap, Anjan Dutt and Rituparna Sengupta.

The Three Musketeers: Milady (M. Bourboulon) will be screened at the inauguration.

Speaking at the press conference, Nicolas Facino said “The first edition of the French Film Festival will pay tribute to masters like Mrinal Sen, Satyajit Ray, Jean-Luc Godard and others. With the help of this festival, unity, and diversity, will be celebrated in different contemporary films”.

The films at the festival can be categorized into 5 segments namely Contemporary films, Young audiences, French New Wave, Indian Classics at Cannes, and Special screenings.

Some of the films that will be screened at this film festival are Zero Fucks Given, Not My Type, I Want To Talk About Duras, An Impossible Love, The Shiny Shrimps, Rouge, and others.

Indian films that were selected for the Cannes Film Festival will also be screened at the festival. Some of the films include Agantuk, Padatik, Kennedy, Antarjali Jatra, Tahader Kotha, and Uttaron.

There will be a special screening of Kennedy, followed by a talk with the director Anurag Kashyap.

As part of this film festival, there will be a French Short Movie Night that will take place on 23^rd February at Apeejay Park Mansions Courtyard, Kolkata from 9 pm to 6 am. 28 films will be screened in this French Short Movie Night. Apart from French films, there will also be a Hindi film.

Nandan 1, Nandan 2, and Nandan 3 are the halls where the films will be screened. The showtimes are 1.30 pm, 4 pm and 6 pm.

The French Film Festival will continue till 24^th February. The closing film is The Braid (L. Colombani). The closing ceremony will be graced by His Excellency Ambassador of France in India Thierry Mathou, directors, Sudhir Mishra, Goutam Ghosh, and actress Mia Maelzar.

The first edition of the French Film Festival is free for all.

Priyanka Dutta