5 films that made Bengal proud at International film festivals

There's been a thin line separating Bengali cinema and world cinema from times immemorial. It's not a one-off event when a Bengali film is awarded, or selected for screening or specially mentioned at international film fests. We take a look at a few such films, recently released and yet unreleased, that made us proud participants of the world cinema phenomenon .

Chotoder Chobi, a film on the lives of midgets, have been creating a huge buzz ever since it released last week. But even before it's official release in West Bengal, the film created a mark for itself, when Dulal Sarkar, the lead actor of the film bagged the best actor award at the prestigious 45th International Film Festival of India. The film created history with a midget winning the best actor award, even though Kaushik Ganguly had gotten quite used to the IFFI honour in the past few years with his Apur Panchali and Arekti Premer Golpo both made it to the competition sections of the IFFI of the previous years. Recently, the production house announced that Chotoder Chobi has been selected as the Opening Film at International Indian Film Festival 2015 Extravagant India, Paris too.

Even while you are busy praising the husband, spare a moment for Churni Ganguly, whose achievements with her film Nirbashito is as star studded. Nirbashito, a film that depics the lufe of banished Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen and her cat, was first selected to be screened at the prestigious Mumbai International Film Festival MAMI. and not long after, Churni Ganguly's first directorial venture, Nirbashito, was adjudged the best film in Delhi International Film Festival. "I am extremely proud. I am overjoyed that the film is doing so well outside Bengal, even though it is yet to release in Kolkata. Recognition certainly helps one beleive in oneself. This award has convinced me even more that stories such as these need to be told," Churni said.

Asha Jawar Majhe or Labour of Love: Aditya Vikram Singh's debut directorial has been winning awards and international distinction by leaps and bounds. Premiering at Venice Days, a section which runs parallel to the Venice Film festival, the film received the FEDEORA award (Federation of Film Critics of Europe and the Mediterranean) for Best Young Director. In Abu Dhabi, the film received a Special Jury Mention in the festival's New Horizon section. Aditya Vikram Sengupta won the Best Director award for Labour of Love at Marrakech International Film Festival too. The 30-year-old adman-filmmaker’s labour of love is set in Kolkata during the 2009 recession and stars Ritwick Chakraborty and Basabdutta Chatterjee and was also screened at the Busan International Film Festival and the BFI London Film festival. Trivia: The film has no dialogues, just backgroundmusic.

Director Partha Sen’s ‘Anubrata Bhalo Achho’, an independent film starring acclaimed actor of Shabdo Ritwik Chakraborty and Swastika Mukherjee, was selected to be screened at the the Hanoi International Film Festival. Speaking on the title of the film, the director said he was inspired by Shakti Chattopadhyay's poem, 'Abani Bari Achho'. Almost 200 films from 26 countries and territories around the world were screened at the Hanoi International Film Festival where Partha Sen's film made it to the competition category.

Atanu Ghosh's film, Ek Phali Rodh, that released in December last year, is based on real -life incidents that explore the phenomena called By-Stander effect — the socio-psychological phenomenon about people refusing to help a stranger in crisis.The film, starring Ritwick Chakraborty, Aparajita, Dhritiman Chatterjee, Jisshu Sengupta was selected to be screened at the the Shanghai Film Festival along with Atanu Ghosh's other film Roopkotha Noy."The Shanghai invite was one of the most pleasant surprises in my career,” said Atanu, adding, “especially when they actually asked for two of my films when, to get one chosen is a big thing for us,” the director was quoted as saying.