Kolkata, Nov 10 (UNI) Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will inaugurate the 24th Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) on Saturday at the Netaji Indoor Stadium.
The inauguration programme will be attended by the famous Iranian director Majid Majidi, Dadasaheb Phalke awardee Soumitra Chatterjee, Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan, the State’s brand ambassador, Shah Rukh Khan, as well as Waheeda Rehman, Nandita Das, Sanjay Dutt and Mahesh Bhatt.
The highlight of this year’s festival is 100 years of Bengali cinema, and there would be films by legends like Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak, Mrinal Sen and others.
The theme country this year is Australia, to be represented by film editor Jill Elizabeth Bilcock, and film-makers Phillip Noyce and Simon Becker. The Special Focus country this year would be Tunisia.
The number of films this year is more than last year. Another piece of good news for film aficionados is that KIFF has decided to spread the screening of films to neighbouring districts too – notably Howrah and North 24 Parganas.
Among the 16 cinemas, besides the usual venues of Nandan, Rabindra Sadan, Sisir Mancha, Star Theatre and a few others, would be PVR Avani (Howrah) and PVR Diamond Plaza (Dumdum, North 24 Parganas). Basusree in Kolkata would be joining the list of venue for the first time.
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