The Kolkata Film Festival is one of the major festivals of films of Southeast Asia. Young in age, but certainly not callow in appearance, the festival offers a rich and wide variety of films from all over the world. Kolkata has long been regarded by many as the cradle of whatever is best in India’s cultural ethos. The art of cinema has a very special place in the heart of this city.

Last year’s festival was inaugurated by Mani Ratnam, one of the most famous and sought after directors of India. This was the 15th edition of the Kolkata Film Festival, which was held from November 15 to 17. The festival has been organised with the support of the Government of West Bengal, and has earned worldwide acclaim as one of the major non-competitive international film festivals.

The package of films by Federico Fellini (Italy), Rogerio Sganzerla (Brazil), Ousmane Sembene (Senegal) and Yilmaz Guney (Turkey) were showcased under the ‘Homage’ section in the festival. Under ‘Honour’, a package of films by Andrzej Wajda (Poland), Marta Meszaros (Hungary) and Caroline Link (Germany) were presented. A package of films, directed and produced by Peter Raymont (Canada), was also screened in the ‘Encounter’ section. Another package of films based on the literary works and scripts of living legend Gabriel Garcia Marquez was also screened.

The festival opened with the film The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, the story of a nine-year-old Bruno, who knows nothing about the meaning of the Final Solution and the Holocaust. He is totally unaware of the terrible cruelty his country is inflicting on the people of Europe. An outstanding human document, the film is directed by Mark Herman of UK.

The legendary Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini is known to all cine-lovers of the world. His outstanding films like The Sweet Life, Orchestra Rehearsal, Variety Lights were the main attractions of the festival. Another master filmmaker of Poland is Andrzej Wajda. His memorable films like Ashes And Diamonds, Everything for Sale, Man of Marble, The Conductor, Sweet Rush, etc, drew huge crowds at the festival.

Hungarian-origin Marta Meszaros is a powerful filmmaker. Her films like Adoption, Nine Months, The Girl, True Women, Diary For My Children were some remarkable films screened at the festival. Turkey’s Yilmaz Guney has made some remarkable films, which were acclaimed internationally. His films like The Hungry Wolves, Hope, The Way, Elegy and his last The Wall were screened in the festival. The Wall was made in France. The film deals with the life of inmates in Turkish prisons. Viewers were appalled to see the chambers of horror.

Elia Kazan was arguably one of the major American film directors of the second half of the twentieth century. Deservedly, he received much critical acclaim. Kazan’s films like Gentleman’s Agreement, Viva Zapata, A Streetcar Named Desire, East of Eden, The Arrangement were showcased in the festival.

Marta Meszaros and Caroline Link – these two were the notable women directors whose films were able to draw the attention of the audience. A powerful filmmaker of Europe, Marta Meszaros’ The Unburied Man and Just Like a Home drew critical acclaim, while Germany’s Caroline Link was also received warmly by the audience through her films like A Year Ago in Winter, Nowhere in Africa and Anna Louise and Anton. The discovery of the festival was Nikos Panayotopoulos. The talented director from Greece depicted various angles of human life through his films like The Bachelor, Edge of Night, Beautiful People, Delivery, Dying in Athens, etc.

The legendary filmmaker of Africa, Ousmane Sembene, was another attraction at the festival. His films – Borom Sarret, Maudabi, Moolaad are noteworthy. Another highlight of this festival was a package of films based on the World War II. Young directors like Philippe Carress of France, Steven da Jong and Martin Koolhoven of the Netherlands depicted the horrors of the World War II through their films like Winter in Wartime, Broken Promise and The Anarchist’s Wife.

Contemporary world cinema also included various notable films by versatile young directors. Indian legend Bimal Roy’s Do Bigha Zameen, Parineeta, Bandini, etc, were screened in the special retrospective section. Some recent films of various regional languages of India were also screened in the Indian Panorama section. In this section, Assamese feature film Basundhara, screened by Hiren Bora was shown. The film depicts the conflict between man and Nature. The film is noble and educative, but the director laid too much stress on documentation, in some way ignoring the cinematic expression. Otherwise, this is a good effort from the upcoming director from Assam. There was a special screening of this film in Assam House on November 15. The Assamese people of Kolkata and other local people, thus had the opportunity to view the film.

As a whole, the 15th Kolkata Film Festival provided the opportunity to understand the present scenario of world cinema, because Hollywood is not the sole representative of World cinema. Through these festivals, people can know the films of the present, and be aware about the versatile directors of the film world internationally.

Royal Ahmed