KIFF: Amitabh Bachchan kicks off movie extravaganza in Kolkata

Veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan inaugurated the Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) on Saturday in the presence of many stars from Bollywood and the Bengali film industry. He lit the ceremonial lamp in the presence of chief minister Mamata Banerjee and spoke about the glorious yesteryears of Bengali cinema.

The event, which was attended by an array of stars like Jaya Bachchan, Soumitra Chatterjee, Rituparna Sengupta, Majid Majidi and Mahesh Bhatt among many others also saw the screening of the trailer of the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Zero. SRK, who was also present at the occasion said that he doesn’t have any regrets of not winning the national award but feels proud because never in the past has any of his films been screened at a film festival–on the same level as the KIFF.

Some of the highlights of the festival include cinema by Majidi and Australian films of diverse nature. Also, a tribute was paid to Ingmar Bergman–the iconic Swedish director-producer–by screening eight of his best movies.

Australia is the focus country for this edition of the event and so, there would be a screening of 26 old and new films from the country.

A host of award-winning movies from the US, Spain, France and Russia would be screened at the event, which is considered the second oldest film festival in India. The event would also have a total of 150 short films and documentaries, 171 feature films from over 70 nations.