Film fever catches on, fest runs to packed halls

KOLKATA: With the weekend round the corner, the city has started warming up to the magic of cinema. Crowds have been swelling steadily at the 20th Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF). If ‘Pasolini’, the Italian film based on the final days of legendary filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini, drew a large audience on Thursday, Stanley Kubrick’s ‘Barry Lyndon’, Jitka Rudolfova’s ‘Delight’ and Maria Douza’s ‘A Place Called Home’ enthralled viewers on Friday.
Each of the three films ran to a packed house at Nandan I. In fact, scores watched the films from the staircases and foyers of the auditorium. With films like Kubrick’s ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ and Amos Gitai’s ‘Tsili’ set to be screened over the weekend, the next two days could see even bigger crowds at Nandan.
Long queues formed almost an hour before the 9am, 11.45am and 3pm shows got underway. Many like sales executive Ashis Datta didn’t mind the wait. “You hardly get to watch a Kubrick film or any new European cinema on the big screen. For people like me, the film festival is like the pujas. You don’t miss any good film,” said Datta. If ‘Pasolini’ left him spellbound, ‘Delight’ was a very bold film as well, he felt.
Rudolfova’s ‘Delight’ turned out to be the Friday favourite with the audience. A captivating account of a woman’s tumultous relationships, largely through text messages, the Czech film was indeed a treat. If ‘Delight’ explored the travails of relationship, ‘A Place Called Home’ was about a nostalgic journey back to the roots.
Bengali screen icon Prosenjit drove into the Nandan complex to address a seminar late in the afternoon. His car was chased by fans eager to catch a glimpse. By early evening, queues started building up yet again at Nandan I foyer. Veteran film-maker Govind Nihalani was to deliver the Satyajit Ray memorial lecture and film-lovers were not going to miss it. Nihalani regaled the audience with anecdotes and stories about Ray.
“Once at a dinner in Mumbai, I had asked Ray about the film he was working on. He said he had just finished shooting ‘Pikur Diary’. I hesitantly asked him to tell me the story a little. He narrated the entire film. I was overwhelmed. Later, when I was working as Shyam Benegal’s cameraman for his documentary on Ray, I again asked him about his plans. This time, he said he was planning to make a film based on a Mahasveta Devi story ‘Beej’,” recalled Nihalani.