The 29th Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) is set to showcase a diverse selection of 219 films from 39 countries during its week-long run from December 5 to 12, spanning 23 venues across the city. Spain will take the spotlight as the focus country, featuring six contemporary works. Bollywood luminaries Salman Khan, Anil Kapoor, and Kamal Hasan are slated to grace the inaugural function at Netaji Indoor, with Shatrughan Sinha as a special guest.
Of the 219 films, 72 features and 50 shorts and documentaries will compete in various categories, with 13 international films contending for the prestigious Golden Royal Bengal Trophies for Best Film and Best Director, offering prize money of Rs 51 lakh and Rs 21 lakh, respectively. Aroop Biswas, the festival’s chief advisor, highlighted the KIFF’s status as the world’s largest film festival in terms of prize money and anticipated audience turnout. The inaugural film will be the 1963 Bengali classic “Deya Neya,” striking a balance between local and international cinema.
For the first time, the Bengali Panorama section will be competitive, offering a Rs 7.5 lakh prize. Australia will be the Special Focus Country, with 15 contemporary works, and the Centenary tribute section will feature films by Mrinal Sen, Dev Anand, Richard Attenborough, and others. The festival will also host the Satyajit Ray Memorial Lecture by Laurence Kardish, masterclass sessions on acting and direction by Manoj Bajpayee and Sudhir Mishra, and the screening of Anurag Kashyap’s ‘Kennedy,’ followed by a Q&A session. Aditi Rao Haydari will grace the closing ceremony on December 12, where prize winners in various categories will be announced. Renowned filmmaker Goutam Ghosh mentioned that seven Kurdish films will be showcased in the ‘In Search of Identity’ section.
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