Total 17 films, including feature and non-feature, are going to be screened. Art exhibition by contemporary artists is going to be held alongside the film festival.
The first Bengali film festival will be held in Bengaluru, at St. Johns Auditorium in Koramangala, arranged by the Kolaj Bengali Association.
It will begin from tomorrow and continue till April 10, 2022. Abir Banerjee, general secretary and event director, Kolaj Bengali Association said, “In this festival, nine feature films, seven short films, and one documentary will be screened. We’ll also have an art exhibition at the art gallery.”
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Abir Banerjee
Contemporary actors and directors are expected to attend the three-day-long film festival. Banerjee said that the Bengali actors—Moon Moon Sen, Sreelekha Mitra, Sudipta Chakraborty Rudranil Ghosh, Sourav Das, Swastika Mukherjee, Rwitobroto Mukherjee and Darshana Banik are going to come to the film festival. Among directors, Subhrajyoti Basak, Ranajit Dey and R. D Nath are expected.
The films are all recently released and haven’t made it to the over-the-top platform yet, said Banerjee. Nalish, Searching for Happiness, and 1971 are going to be screened at the festival. He said that there will be question and answer sessions with the actors and directors after every screening.
Anwesha Mukherjee, a Bengali resident in Bengaluru said, “I love Bengali films. But I don’t know that such a film festival is happening in Bengaluru.”
Banerjee said that Kolaj has Bengalis belonging from different occupations and they conduct different things like Durga Puja in Bengaluru to promote Bengali culture. Bengaluru has a big diaspora of Bengali and after the pandemic, everyone was looking for something big. As cinema is an integral part of the Bengali culture, they thought a film festival would be a great idea.
The Eclectic Art Foundation is in charge of the art exhibition. Adarsha Biswas, one of the associates in the foundation, said, “There will be abstracts, realistic, and traditional form of paintings. Madhubani and Patachitra paintings will be exhibited.” He added that not all the painters are from West Bengal, some are from Jharkhand and one is from Hyderabad. Pwan Roy, Swapan Bala and Sandeep Goldar’s paintings are going to be exhibited.
The visitors have to book their tickets beforehand to visit the festival. Students and association members will have a special discount. The inauguration programme starts tomorrow at 6 p.m.
