Iranian film maker Mostafa Taghizadeh's 'Yellow' will be the inaugural film of the 23rd Kolkata International Film Festival where films from 53 countries will be screened and UK will be the 'focus country'.
Jean-Luc Godard's 'The Rise and Fall of a Small Film Company (Grandeur et Decadence d'un Petit Commerce de Cinema), which had been made for French Television in 1986 and released in cinematic format in October this year in France, will be screened in cinematic format in 23rd KIFF.
The 23rd KIFF will be held from November 10 to 17.
"This will be the first time that 'The Rise and Fall of a Small Film Company' is being screened outside France," principal secretary, Information and Cultural Affairs department Vivek Kumar told a press meet here.
He said among other firsts the festival will have a new section 'Competition on Indian Language films' to promote regional Indian cinema with the prize money of Rs 7 lakh for the best film and Rs 5 lakh for the best director. Ten films in nine languages will be screened in this section.
This will be in addition to the 'International Competition' section where 14 films from 13 countries will be screened.
Kumar said the KIFF was giving one of the largest amount reward for the best film in foreign languages (International Competition) which was Rs 51 lakh.
There will also be Rare Language Indian Films category where eight films in Garo, Boro, Chakma, Dogri, Konkani, Kodava, Maithili, Khasi will be screened.
In another first, camera and other equipment used by film makers like Lumiere Brothers, Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak will be on display for film students and enthusiasts at an exhibition 'Looking Through' at an exhibition hall in the Nandan complex, Kumar said.
A large number of 143 films from 53 countries will be screened at the festival which will be held from November 10 to 17, he said.
"Very well-known film makers from countries like Turkey, Morocco, Iran, Serbia, Italy, UK, China, Sri Lanka, Germany, Argentina will be attending this festival which is increasingly getting global recognition," he said.
There will be 16 sections which will also a retrospective of six films by prominent British director Michael Winterbottom. This was significant as UK has been chosen as the country on focus in 23rd KIFF, he said.
Six films by well known Thai director Pen-Ek Ratanaruang will also be screened in the retrospective section in an eclectic package of films from different countries.
The 16 sections also included Asian Select (four films from four countries), National Best (12 films in 12 languages), Homage (to late film personalities like Om Puri, Tom Alter and Ramananda Sengupta).
West Bengal Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Arup Biswas said around 10 films, in KIFF package, will be screened in different localities of the city this time.
"We will also hardsell our shooting locations and point out the world class technical facilities to the eminent director-producers attending the film festival," he said.
The Satyajit Ray Memorial Lecture will be given by Rachel Dwyer, a professor of Indian Cultures and Cinema at SOAS, University of London, Biswas said.
Minister of State for Information and Cultural Affairs, Indranil Sen said 87 short films and 51 documentary films will be screened in this festival.
The number of Bengali films will be 10.
Apart from Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan, who had been regulars to the KIFF inauguration in past, Kamal Hasaan, Kajol and Mahesh Bhatt will be among those invited to the inauguration of the 23rd KIFF at Netaji Indoor stadium on November 10.
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