Soumitra Chatterjee for Satyajit Ray Award European films dominate Kolkata international fest

M Chhaya

Movie buffs in Kolkata will be treated to a rich fare of European films in the 8th International Kolkata Film Festival (KFF) that started in Kolkata November 10.

A total of 130 films from 46 countries will be screen in four cinema halls during the week-long festival. The film fest will screen a retrospective of films by Greek director and screenplay writer Theo Angelopoulos and Indian filmmakers Aparna Sen and Mani Ratnam.

The festival will pay homage to Max Ophuls, the Germany-born director whose birth centennary is being observed this year. Veteran Indian actor Soumitra Chatterjee will be bestowed with the Satyajit Ray Award.

The 8th KFF has drawn films from, among others, Britain, Spain, Poland, Australia, Germany, France, Columbia, Israel, Croatia, Cuba, Sri Lanka, the Netherlands, Iran, Peru, Argentina, Luxembourg Vietnam, Russia, Hungary, Slovenia, Canada, Italy, Mexico, Thailand and Japan.

While the spotlight will be on Angelopoulos and Ophuls, French films by Jean Luc Goddard, Eric Rohmer and Claude Chabrol are expected to be a major hit with movie connoisseurs.

The talk of the festival has been Angelopoulos's Megalexandros, Voyage To Cythera, The Bee-Keeper, The Suspended Step Of The Stork, Ulysses' Gaze and Eternity And A Day.

Films of Ophuls --- The Earrings of Madame de, The Pleasure Le Plaisir, Letter From An Unknown Woman and From Maverling To Sarajevo will also be shown.

Films of great actor Marcelo Mastrioni, including Too Bad, She Is Bad (1954), White Nights (1957), Ghosh In Rome (1961), La Dolce Vita (1960), Divorce Italian Style (1961), The Organiser (1963) and I Remember, Yes I Remember (1997) will be screened.

Thirteen new films from Brazil and Venezuela are also generating much interest.