KIFF 2024 to celebrate cinema with lineup of 219 films from 39 countries
The inauguration of the 29th edition of the Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) is scheduled to commence on December 5 at Netaji Indoor Stadium. The occasion will be attended by Salman Khan, Anil Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha, Mahesh Bhatt, Shatrughan Sinha, and Sourav Ganguly, amongst others.
Actress Aditi Rao Hydari will participate in the closing ceremony while Cine Adda, the primary highlight of the festival, will be conducted consistently in the evenings.
In the masterclasses, Saurabh Sukhla will share insights on acting, Saugata Mukherjee will cover film production, and Manoj Bajpayee and Sudhir Mishra will discuss acting and direction, respectively.
The festival will also honour the memory of individuals who passed away this year, including Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida, Spanish director Carlos Saura, English film critic and historian Derek Malcolm, cinematographer Soumendu Roy, and Iranian filmmaker Dariush Mehrjui.
Tributes commemorating the centenaries will be dedicated to British director Lindsay Anderson, filmmaker Richard Attenborough, American actor Charlton Heston, Senegalese director, producer, and writer Ousmane Sembene, filmmaker Mrinal Sen, actor Dev Anand, singer Mukesh, and poet and lyricist Shailendra.
The festival received a total of 1,590 film submissions. The screenings will take place at Radha Studio, via a 35mm projector. As part of the festival's special focus on Australia – 15 films across three categories will be presented. Additionally, there will be screenings of six contemporary films from Spain, the designated focus country.
From Thursday onwards, the title song and a brief film produced for the festival began airing on various audio-visual platforms in the state. The lyrics for the song were written by Srijato, with music composed by Indraadip Das Gupta, and Arijit Singh providing the vocals for the festival anthem. The short film associated with the festival was directed by PB Chaki.
This year, a competitive Bengali film segment has been introduced, offering prize money of Rs 7.5 lakh for the winner. The International Competition: Innovation in Moving Images jury is led by Russian director Pavel Lungin as the chairperson, along with director Tigmanshu Dhulia.
"It's time for the 29th KIFF, which all of us had been waiting for. Now it's not just a festival but an emotion for all cinephiles of Kolkata. I guess it's fast turning into one of the biggest film festivals in India attended by filmmakers and cine lovers from the world over," said KIFF Chairperson and filmmaker Raj Chakrabarty.
"KIFF includes a wide array of contemporary cinema and we've also been able to curate masterclasses and interactions with stalwarts from Indian and global cinema that students of cinema from the city will find interesting," remarked Arindam Sil, the filmmaker who is currently chairing four sub-committees for the KIFF and is also a member of the festival's apex advisory committee.