Kolkata, Jan 5 (Agency) The West Bengal Government on Wednesday temporarily postponed the 27th Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF), scheduled to be held between January 7-14, 2022, in the wake of massive spike of Covid cases in the state. “ After assessing the present Covid situation in the State and taking into consideration the possibility of further contamination of covid among the cine lovers and citizens and also owing to the fact that a number of cine personalities attached to film festival committee and many others have been affected by Covid, State Government, upon careful consideration to the safety of the citizens has decided to temporarily postpone the 27th Kolkata International Film Festival scheduled to be held between 7-14 January, 2022, “ a media statement here said. “ Next date of the Festival will be communicated in due course, “ the statement added. Earlier, Minister of state for Information and Culture Indranil Sen said, “KIFF has been rescheduled and scaled-down due to the Covid pandemic like the 26th KIFF.
Arrangements are being made to show movies following Covid protocols. One seat will be left vacant between two. All the 10 venues will follow this 50 percent occupancy protocols.” Actor Parambrata Chatterjee said the films have been chosen from a total of 1698 entries. He said special homages will be paid to director Buddhadeb Dasgupta, Bollywood great Dilip Kumar, French actors Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Claude Carriere, actress Swatilekha Sengupta and filmmaker Sumitra Bhave. Centenary tributes will also be paid to film critic Chidananda Dasgupta and Hungarian filmmaker Miklos Jancso. There will also be exhibitions on their lives and work. “The festival has shrunk due to the Covid pandemic but the quality of the films has not compromised a bit. It’s a festival of handpicked best films from the world. This year, eminent director Shoojit Sircar will deliver Satyajit Ray Memorial Lecture on January 11,” said Chatterjee.