26th KIFF to be inaugurated amid Covid-19 in Kolkata today
Kolkata/IBNS: The 26th edition of Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) will be inaugurated amid Covid-19 pandemic here on Friday.
A low-key inauguration ceremony amid the Covid-19 pandemic will be held virtually at state headquarters Nabanna on Jan 8.
The inauguration ceremony will take place at Nabanna Sabhaghar in presence of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, KIFF chairman Raj Chakraborty and others associated with the film festival at 4 pm.
Bollywood superstar and West Bengal brand ambassador Shah Rukh Khan like every year will join the inauguration ceremony but virtually.
Together we will overcome this pandemic. But the show must go on. We are going ahead with #KIFF 2021 virtually, on a smaller scale. Glad that my brother @iamsrk will join us virtually at the inaugural event on Jan 8, 4pm. Watch Kolkata International Film Festival live
— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) January 6, 2021
The latest edition of KIFF, which was about to be held in November, 2020 but was postponed due to the pandemic, will run between Jan 8 and 15.
The inaugural film of KIFF will be late legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray's Apur Sansar at Rabindra Sadan at 5 pm on Jan 8.
In total, 81 feature films and 50 short and documentary films from 45 countries will be screened at eight festival venues of Kolkata in eight days.
Shah Rukh Khan to be present virtually at the inauguration (Image Credit: Mamata Banerjee Facebook)
A special tribute will be paid to Soumitra Chattopadhyay, Fernando Solanas, Kim Ki-duk, Basu Chatterjee, Rishi Kapoor, Irrfan Khan, Tapas Pal, Amala Shankar and Santu Mukhhopadhyay, who passed away in 2020 leaving their fans to teary eyes.
The Satyajit Ray Memorial Lecture this year will be delivered by Article 15 and Mulk director Anubhav Sinha.
Support Our Journalism
We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism
IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.