Kolkata Film Festival declares its award recipients

The curtain closed on Kolkata International Film Festival yesterday after an eight-day run that began on December 5. The final day was graced by the presences of Bollywood star Aditi Rao Hydari and director Sudhir Mishra on stage, along with the company of ministers Aroop Biswas, Indranil Sen, Firhad Hakim, film personalities Goutam Ghose, Mamata Shankar, Dhritiman Chatterjee, Raj Chakraborty, and others.

In the Indian Documentary category, "Challenge" secured the Best Film Award, while the Best Short Film Award went to "Last Rehearsal". Additionally, "Broken Dreams: Stories from the Myanmar Coup" clinched the Best Film Award in the Netpack category. The accolade for the Best Bengali Film was bestowed upon "Asampurno" directed by Amartya Sinha.

The festival has reached its 29th year. The opening film for this year's edition was "Deya Neya" (1963), directed by Sunil Bandyopadhyay and featuring Uttam Kumar, Tanuja, Tarun Kumar, and others. A total of 219 films from 39 countries, participating in this year's festival, were screened across 23 theaters.

This year, Syeda Neegar Banu's directorial film "Nona Pani" from Bangladesh was featured. The film focuses on the challenges faced by the fishermen in the Khulna region.

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The Kolkata International Film Festival, in operation since 1995, is now in its 29th year. The 2021 festival opened with "Apur Sansar", directed by Satyajit Ray and featuring Soumitra Chatterjee. In 2020, Ray's "Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne" was featured as the opening film, while the previous year opened with "Abhimaan", starring Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan.

At the closing ceremony held at Rabindrasad, Bollywood star Aditi Rao Hydari expressed, "My film journey began under the guidance of the renowned director Mani Ratnam. I acted in my first two films with him, and he advised me to come to Kolkata, a unique cultural city that I truly love. That's why I came running." 

Sudhir Mishra said, "Kolkata is my old city. I worked as an assistant to the famous playwright Badal Sircar and collaborated with the Oscar-winning director Satyajit Ray. Kolkata is my origin and a place of love, which is why I keep returning."