Film festival of 5 continents kicks off

Kolkata: A film festival showing cinema of five continents from 18 countries kicked off at the Satyajit Ray auditorium at ICCR on Sunday and is set to screen close to 20 films till February 20.

The festival, organised by Forum for Film Studies and Allied Arts along with another cultural foundation, was inaugurated on Sunday at Rabindranath Tagore Centre at ICCR. Some of the countries that the festival is covering apart from India are Finland, Venezuela, France, Iran, Mexico, Israel, Poland, Germany, Sri Lanka, among others. There will be four shows daily between 2:45 pm and 9 pm.

The inaugural day saw the screening of three films which included the critically acclaimed Indian film ‘Agra’ by Kanu Behl. Screened at Director’s Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival and bagging an award at the Melbourne Film Festival, ‘Agra’ traces the journey of a man and his family. The film unfolds within the dilapidated confines of a two-story house that stands as a silent testament to the discord festering within its walls.

On Monday, the festival will be screening an Iranian cinema ‘Don’t be embarrassed 2’ directed by Reza Maghsoodi. It narrates the tale of a couple in a village where secrets never remain a secret. It sheds light on a mid-life crisis and its consequences.

In focus is another Indian political film ‘Vidhvasta’ (Devastated) by Ashish Avikunthak. Scheduled to be screened on Monday evening, the film examines the double life of a policeman tasked with the extrajudicial killings of minorities. The cinema was previously shown at the Rotterdam Film Festival.

The closing ceremony on February 20 will be held in the presence of Cpaya Rodriguez, Ambassador at the Embassy of Venezuela, among others.