Kolkata, Oct 31 (PTI) For the second year in a row, no film from Bangladesh will be screened in the 31st Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) to be held here from November 6-13.
According to the schedule posted on KIFF website, 215 films from 39 countries, including India, Guatemala, Palestine, Turkey, Serbia, Egypt, Iraq, Poland and Germany, will be screened at the festival under various sections.
Bangladesh’s absence comes in the backdrop of the political unrest in the neighbouring country in 2024 and subsequent strains in bilateral relations.
Following the student-led uprising in Bangladesh, the Sheikh Hasina government was dislodged, with Hasina leaving the country and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus taking charge of an interim government.
A KIFF jury committee member told PTI, “There was only one submission from Bangladesh — Thanvir Chowdhury’s ‘Kaffarah’ — for the international section, but sadly it did not meet the criteria we were looking for. It was a tough call for us and the Bangladesh film did not make the cut.” In 2022, Muhammad Quayum’s ‘Kura Pokkhir Shunye Ura’ received the ‘Golden Royal Bengal Tiger Award’ as Best Film for International Competition: Innovation in Moving Images.
Quayum had then advocated more cultural exchanges between the two countries and regular screening of Bangladeshi films in future KIFF editions.
The 31st KIFF will be held from November 6 to 13.
The festival will pay a special centenary tribute to legendary filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak, screening six of his films, many of which focuses on the pains and sufferings of partition. PTI SUS MNB
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