For the first time, the Kolkata International Film Festival will be held a second time within a year.
The 28th edition will be inaugurated on December 15, barely seven months after the 27th edition drew to a close.
Unlike the two pandemic-hit earlier editions, this time the inauguration at Netaji Indoor Stadium will have Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan return to do the honours alongside Rani Mukerji, Mahesh Bhatt, Arijit Singh and Kumar Sanu. Shatrughan Sinha, now the Asansol MP, will attend, as will Sourav Ganguly.
The festival will screen 183 films from 42 countries, including 130 feature films and 52 short films across Nandan, Sisir Mancha, Rabindra Sadan, Nazrul Tirtha, Chalachchitra Satabarsha Bhavan and Rabindra Okakura Bhavan.
The festival will open with the Hrishikesh Mukherjee film Abhiman, at both Netaji Indoor Stadium and Rabindra Sadan, at 5.30pm.
This will be part of an Amitabh Bachchan retrospective which will feature eight other films. Sudeep Chatterjee, cinematographer of films like Black, actor Neeraj Kabi and director Shaji N. Karun will hold Masterclasses at Bangla Akademi on December 17, 19 and 20 respectively.
Filmmaker Sudhir Mishra will deliver the year’s Satyajit Ray Memorial Lecture on December 18 at Sisir Mancha.
Two exhibitions will be held, one on Amitabh Bachchan at Gaganendra Pradarshashala and Nazrul Tirtha, and another on Jean-Luc Godard at the Nandan foyer and Nazrul Tirtha.