The 21st edition of the Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) slated to kick off on Sunday is likely to be attended by south India's superstar Rajnikant besides Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan and Sharmila Tagore. According to an official talks were on with Rajnikant, who may arrive tomorrow in the city to attend the inaugural ceremony if everything goes accordingly. The Big B, Jaya Bachchan and Sharmila Tagore had earlier been announced as the guests for the inaugural ceremony.
With as many as 149 films of 137 directors from 61 countries scheduled to be screened in the nine-day-long extravaganza, the state government has decided to pay a special tribute to director Bappaditya Bandopadhyay who passed away recently. "KIFF will screen Bappaditya's movie Houseful at Nandan 3 on November 17," KIFF director Yadav Mandal said. Out of the 15 segments, two new sections "Films on Sports" and "India Unheard" (with films in seven different Indian languages) have been introduced in this year's festival which has been a competitive one since last year.
Budgeted at Rs 8 crore, this year the Royal Bengal Trophy will be awarded to the best film and the best director among the competition focuses on films directed by woman. The 14 films in the international competition include a bouquet from Canada, Colombia, Spain, France, South Korea, Netherlands, Russia, Italy, Hungary, Turkey and Yemen. Last year, the Best Film Award went to Tales by Rakshan Banietemad from Iran, while Tamar Van Den Dop from Netherlands and Najwa Najjar from Palestine bagged the Best Director Award for Supernova and Eyes of a Thief respectively. Self Made by Shira Geffen from Israel won the Jury Award.
In a bid to celebrate films by women directors the world over, Kolkata International Film Festival introduced the international competition last year. The closing ceremony of the festival will be graced by actor Tabu, who will also give away the Royal Bengal Trophy to the winner.
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