Actors Salman Khan, Anil Kapoor to inaugurate 29th edition of KIFF

During a press meet on Wednesday evening, State minister and KIFF chief advisor Aroop Biswas said that Spain will be the focus country for this year’s festival and six contemporary works from the country will be shown.

“KIFF is the biggest film festival in the world in terms of prize money given in the two categories. The expected turnout of over 15,000 visitors at the inaugural show is also the biggest at any festival,” claimed Biswas.

The 1963 Bengali classic Deya Neya, starring veteran actor Uttam Kumar, will be the inaugural film of the festival.

Festival Committee Chairperson and filmmaker Raj Chakraborty, who was present at the press meet, said that of the 219 films to be screened, 72 were features and 50 shorts and documentaries.

Thirteen films from across the world will compete for the Best Film and Best Director categories for Golden Royal Bengal Trophies in the International Competition (Innovation in Moving Images) section, with prize money of Rs 51 lakh and Rs 21 lakh respectively.

“The Bengali Panorama section will be competitive for the first time with prize money of Rs 7.5 lakh for the winner,” said Chakraborty.

The Centenary tribute section will include films by Mrinal Sen, Dev Anand and Richard Attenborough along with five others.

The prestigious Satyajit Ray Memorial Lecture will be delivered by Laurence Kardish on December 9, while actor Manoj Bajpayee and film director Sudhir Mishra will address a masterclass session on acting and direction.

Information and cultural affairs minister Indranil Sen informed that filmmaker Anurag Kashyap’s ‘Kennedy’ will be screened during the festival followed by a question and answer session with the audience and media.

Actor Aditi Rao Haydari will grace the closing ceremony on December 12 where winners in various categories will be announced. Filmmaker Goutam Ghosh, present at the press meet, said seven Kurdish films will be shown for the discerning audiences in the ‘In Search of Identity’ section.

Singer Arijit Singh, will be lending his voice to KIFF’s theme song. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will be contributing to the song’s punch line and lyricist Srijato will be capturing her vision. The music has been composed by Indradeep Dasgupta.