Kolkata International Film Festival to open with Satyajit Ray’s classic Apur Sansar on 8 January

The 26th Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) is all set to be held from 8 to 15 January 2021. Satyajit Ray’s classic film Apur Sansar will be screened at the inauguration as a celebration of the filmmaker's birth centenary as well as to honour legendary actor Soumitra Chatterjee, who passed away in 2020. The festival's organizers will also pay tribute to Basu Chatterjee, Rishi Kapoor, Irrfan Khan, Amala Shankar and Santu Mukherjee.

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The press conference for the festival was held at Sisir Manch and attended by ministers Aroop Biswas and Indranil Sen; the Italian Consul General Dr Gianluca Rubagotti; and festival committee office-bearers Raj Chakraborty, Parambrata Chatterjee, Santanu Basu and actress Paoli Dam.

The physical event will witness the screening of 131 films from 45 countries, including feature films, documentaries and shorts. In addition, an exhibition on the life and works of Chatterjee will be organised.

Filmmaker Anubhav Sinha will be delivering the prestigious Satyajit Ray Memorial Lecture this year. He is best known for his films Mulk (2018), Article 15 (2019) and Thappad (2020). The topic this year is ‘Social Responsibility in mainstream Indian cinema’.

The festival, which was pushed from its original date in November due to the pandemic, will be inaugurated by chief minister Mamata Banerjee.