Coronavirus update: Kolkata International Film Festival postponed

The Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) was scheduled to be held between 7 and 14 January on the ground but given the alarming surge in COVID cases across the nation, the organizers have decided to indefinitely postpone the event.

In a press release uploaded on the festival website, the organizers stated that after assessing the situation and taking into consideration the possibility of contamination of film lovers and citizens, it was decided that the event be temporarily postponed. "The next date of the festival will be communicated in due course," the statement read.

In light of restrictions imposed by the West Bengal government, the organizers had recently announced that they would host physical screenings with 50% occupancy, and that the inauguration ceremony of the event was to be hosted virtually from Nabanna Sabhaghar.

According to a report by The Times of India, an English daily, KIFF chairperson Raj Chakraborty had said, “We will abide by the government notification. KIFF will be held maintaining all health protocols. There will be 50% occupancy for all screenings. That is exactly what was done in 2021 when the KIFF’s 26th physical edition was held successfully.”

The festival was to open with Satyajit Ray’s Aranyer Din Ratri (Days And Nights In The Forest). The country of focus was Finland and the festival was to screen films several other films by the legendary filmmaker as well as a few by Hungarian filmmaker Miklós Jancsó and historian and critic Chidananda Das Gupta.

KIFF was also to pay special tribute to Dilip Kumar, Buddhadeb Dasgupta, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Claude Carrier, Sumita Bhave and Swatilekha Sengupta.