London Bengali film fest now in 2 more UK cities

Kolkata: The London Bengali Film Festival (LBFF) has an interesting addition this year. For the first time, the festival is expanding to Manchester and Cambridge with film screenings alongside its flagship London venues. An online live ‘In Conversation’ session with Naseeruddin Shah will be held at the Queen Mary University of London.
Apart from the UK premieres of Soumitra Chatterjee-Naseeruddin Shah’s “A Holy Conspiracy” (AHC) by Saibal Mitra, Indrani Chakrabarti’s “The Terrace” (TT), Amitabha Chaterji’s ‘Into the Mist’ (ITM), Barnali Ray Shukla’s “Joon”, Raja Ghosh’s “The Keysmith” (TK), Kaushik Ganguly’s “An Angel’s Kiss” (AAK) will also be screened between April 26 and 30.
According to LBFF director Subidita Bhattacharya, Bengali cinema is “under represented” in any international film festival and in the UK too. “Since we celebrate the work of emerging filmmakers of Bengali heritage, our aim has always been to maximize the audience experience. Apart from feature film, three short films – Amit Ashraf’s ‘Khatal’, Tanni Chaudhuri’s ‘After the Threshold’ (ATT) and Bhuiya Redwanur Rahman’s ‘The Unfinished Poem’ - will also be screened there,” Bhattacharya said.
Mitra is happy that a “political film” like “AHC” has found acceptance. “In today’s times, it is extremely difficult to make a political film. First, directors and producers constantly worry about how the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) will react to it. The other worry is whether or not it will have buyers on the OTT platform since every stake holder is worried about some problems coming up from political quarters. Under that circumstance, a director and his team get an impetus with such festival curation,” Mitra said.
This is the 16th film festival screening of ‘ITM’. “Like all my other films, ‘ITM’ is essentially about loneliness. When programmers across the globe, including those of LBFF select ITM, it becomes a validation of my understanding that loneliness is a basic human condition that cuts across socio-political boundaries. The audience reaction to the screenings only reveal how it impacts those running 24X7 to survive in a metropolis as well as those living on the edges in a village. Now, I am waiting to see the reaction to my film’s screening in Manchester,” said Chaterji.
Actor Amrita Chattopadhyay is hopeful about the audience response. “Two of my films – ‘AHC’ and ‘TK’ – are having their UK premiere at the festival. I feel the strong political message of ‘AHC’ needs to be seen by all. But, I would be happy as an actor if our performances reach more people,” she said.
Muhammad Abdul Quayum has flown from Bangladesh to the UK to attend the festival in person for the UK premiere of “The Golden Wings of Watercocks”. “It is nice to see this celebration of films made in Bengali by people from India and Bangladesh. My film has released theatrically in Sydney and Melbourne. It has been invited to Toronto’s Multicultural Film Festival,” Quayum said.