Kolkata film fest to showcase international masterpieces

Kolkata, Nov 9 (IANS) As many as 276 films from 62 countries will be screened at the 14th Kolkata Film Festival and centenary tribute to French director Jacques Tati will be the highlight of the annual event that starts Monday.

Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan is expected to inaugurate the festival to be held Nov 10-17. Kannada director Girish Kasaravalli's 'Gulabi Talkies' will open the fest.

Tati's masterpieces, including 'Play Time', 'My Uncle' and 'The Big Day', will be showcased here.

Under a special segment 'Remembering Ray', filmmaker Satyajit Ray's favourite Hollywood films as well as his restored creations, including 'Teen Kanya', 'Parash Pathar', 'Joy Baba Felunath' and the short film 'Two', will be screened. Besides, 'Aparajito', the second film in Ray's legendary Apu Trilogy will also be shown.

Besides some remarkable Indian films, some of the best movies from the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Iran, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Pakistan, Sweden, South Korea, Slovakia and Uruguay would be screened.

Apart from 276 feature films, 44 short films, eight documentaries and seven children movies too will be screened.

There will also be a 'Documedia' section where documentaries from Afghanistan, Lebanon and France will be shown, along with a package of documentaries on Argentine Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara to commemorate his 80th birth anniversary.

The budget for the festival is Rs.14 million and the state government is bearing 50 percent of the total cost.

'We are bearing the expenses for bringing the prints of the films, while private sponsors will take care of other arrangements,' said a government official.

A total of 3,500 delegates have already registered.

Last year, several prominent film personalities from West Bengal boycotted the festival over the Nandigram violence, but this year they are likely to attend it.

Cine Central, one of the largest film societies in India, will also be screening 70 films from 30 countries as part of the fest.