Kolkata, November 2 Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today slammed the Union government for making Goa the permanent venue of international film festival which started there last year.
The state government has always demanded that Kolkata be made the permanent venue of the international film festival.
‘‘Goa cannot become a venue of the international film festival. It is visited by tourists who have no time for films. It’s a sheer waste of money. Even if there is no film festival at Goa, the place will attract tourists,’’ said Bhattacharjee. He said he would take up the issue with the Information and Broadcasting minister Jaipal Reddy. The Union minister is slated to inaugurate the festival.
The Chief Minister pointed out that the Kolkatans have a passion for film festivals. ‘‘No other city has so many connoisseurs of films. In Delhi I have seen near empty halls during festivals,’’ a visibly peeved Bhattacharjee said.
In the forthcoming Kolkata film festival a total of 140 films, both from India and abroad, are going to be screened. Of them, only seven are Indian films, and among them, only three are in Bengali.
Surprisingly, no Hindi film is going to be screened.
The festival will be inaugurated with the French film The Chorus made by Christope Pariatier.
The films are not old ones, the chief minister has said. ‘‘They have been made between 2004 and 2005,’’ he added.
A total of 47 foreign films from 32 countries would be taking part in the festival.
In the Homage section, 10 films by Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieslowki will be shown.
In the Retrospective section, 10 films of Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodver have been placed. There will also be the Special Tribute section to commemorate 60 years of victory on Fascism, which will have six films.
The festival will also have another category called Asian Glimpse, which will have 13 films. Films from Iran, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh will feature in this section. There will also be a Special Screening section, featuring four films from Netherlands, Bhattacharjee said.
The children are not forgotten either. Seven films will be screened in the children’s section.
A total of 55 foreign guests, who include film directors and actors, are coming to participate in the festival which will have Rs 1 crore budget to be shared equally by the state and the sponsors. Fifty per cent of the sales will go to the fund set up to help technicians in distress,’’ the chief minister said.
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