Kolkata film fest to turn competitive for first time

The eight-day 20th Kolkata International Film Festival, which goes underway from November 10, would become competitive for the first time since its inception. Chairman of the film festival committee Ranjit Mullik said, "From this year for the first time, a new section has been opened. There will be a new competitive section this time".

The competition would be among the 15 best women directors across the world," he told reporters here on Saturday. Information and cultural secretary Atri Bhattacharya said that the trophies and cash prizes would be given to the best film directed by a woman and the best woman director.

The trophies would be named Royal Bengal Trophy and would also carry cash awards of substantial amount, he said. The inauguration would be held on November 10 at the Netaji Indoor Stadium to be attended by Bollywood actors Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Jaya Bachchan, Tanuja, Irfan Khan, Deepika Padukone, Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.

The closing ceremony would be held at Nazrul Tirtha at New Town which would be attended by actor Rani Mukherjee and director Farah Khan. Australian filmmaker Paul Cox would be the chairman of the jury while Indian actor-turned-filmmaker Amol Palekar would be a part of it besides other foreign directors.

The organising panel has decided to pay a special tribute to legendary actress Suchitra Sen and seven films of her would be screened. The other sections are French classic, Indian select, Asian select, Contemporary World Cinema, Bengali panorama, children section and Centenary tributes.

The focus countries of the festival would be Arabian nations. The theme song has been rendered by Nachiketa and Moumita, the first two lines of which was penned by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.