Film festivals come back to the delight of city cineastes

Kolkata: Beating the pandemic blues, Kolkata is going to host fresh editions of two film festivals that were kept on hold due to Covid-19. Two separate festivals will screen a bouquet of Mongolian and Japanese cinema across two venues in the city. In addition, Rabindranath Tagore Centre, ICCR, and Forum for Film Studies and Allied Arts are also hosting the 11the Festival of Five Continents International Film Festival at Satyajit Ray Auditorium from March 27 to March 31.GG Dalmia, the honorary consul of Mongolia for West Bengal, told TOI that his office was unable to host this festival in the last three years. “I am quite hopeful that film lovers of Kolkata will enjoy the Mongolian films and get an idea of the country. The Solo Mongolian Film Festival will be held on April 1 and 2 at Nandan III,” Dalmia said. This festival, being organized by the consulate office of Mongolia Kolkata in association with Cine Central, is a comeback of sorts in the city’s film culture circuit. Ganbold Dambajav, the ambassador of Mongolia in India, will be present at the inaugural ceremony on April 1.The inaugural film is Alexandre Aja’s ‘Oxygen’ (2021). On April 2, Bat Amgalan Lukhaguajar’s ‘Single Ladies’ (2020) and

Undarmaa Gonchig

’s ‘Tutu’ will be screened. ““We had screened an Oscar nominated Mongolian film ‘The Story of the Weeping Camel’ in Kolkata. Unfortunately, Covid stopped us from showing more films from that country in the last three years. I am happy the festival is back now,” said Sajal Datta, the joint secretary of Cine Central.The last major Japanese film festival, organized by the Japanese consulate in Kolkata, was held from August 2 to August 4, 2019. At Nazrul Tirtha (March 26-27) and Nandan III (March 30-31), six feature films (‘The Scythian Lamb’, ‘Nobody to Watch Over Me’, ‘Tremble All You Want’, ‘Oshin’, ‘Where I Belong’ and ‘Recall’ and five short films (‘Tsurezure Kankan’, ‘The Menu for Tomorrow’, ‘Her Voiceless Song’, ‘Spring Sky and Fall Sky’ and ‘Wild Cherry’) will be screened as part of the festival titled

Japan

Talkies. The short film directors worked during the pandemic to shoot the films. Incidentally, 2022 marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relations between Japan and India. “Currently in Japan, cherry blossoms are in full bloom. We want to celebrate that festive spirit by screening movies for the people of Kolkata,” said

Supratik Sil Roy

, the press and media officer of the consulate general of Japan. In a video message, director

Takashi Okado

of ‘Tsurezure Kankan’ said, “We are happy our film has been selected for screening. After watching this film, if anybody wishes to come to Japan, please visit our country when the Covid situation improves. We also wish to go to India.”
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