26th Kolkata International Film Festival
# 26th Kolkata International Film Festival

The 26th Kolkata International Film Festival took place from 8 to 15 January 2021. It was scheduled to take place from 5 to 12 November 2020 but was postponed to January 2021 due to COVID-19 pandemic in India.

## Inauguration

The 26th Kolkata International film festival was virtually inaugurated by CM of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee on 8 January 2020. Shah Rukh Khan, who is the brand ambassador of Bengal, joined the ceremony over a video call. Since 2011, Shah Rukh Khan has been attending the film festival each year.

Around 132 feature films, documentaries and short films have been selected to be showcased at the KIFF 2021 out of 1170 submissions. The festival commenced with actor Soumitra Chatterjee's world-renowned film Apur Sansar.

## Tributes

The Festival Paid Tribute to Late Legendary Actor Shri Soumitra Chatterjee, Federico Fellini, Éric Rohmer, Ravi Shankar, Fernando Solanas, Kim Ki-duk, Basu Chatterjee, Rishi Kapoor, Irrfan Khan, Tapas Paul, Amala Shankar, Hemanta Mukhopadhyay, Bhanu Bandopdhyay & Santu Mukhopadhyay.

## Official Selection

### Competition Categories

**Asian Select (NETPAC Award)**

| Title | Director | Notes |
| - | - | - |
| Priyo Chinar Pata, Iti Segun | KUMAR CHOWDHURY | |
| Drowsy City | LUONG DINH DUNG | |
| Between One Shore And Several Others | sreekrishnan kp | |
| Not Today | Aditya Kripalani | |
| Mahanagar / One Night In Kathmandu | Mohan Rai | |
| NONAJOLER KABBO | Rezwan Shahriar Sumit | NETPAC Award for Best Film |

**Competition on Indian Language's Films**

| Title | Director | Notes |
| - | - | - |
| LAILA AUR SATT GEET | Pushpendra Singh | |
| BELCONY T BHOGAWAN | BISWAJEET BORA | Best Director |
| PINKI ELLI? | Prithvi Konanur | |
| KOSA | Mohit Priyadarshi | |
| AVIJATRIK | Subhrajit Mitra | |
| ORANGU MARANGALUDE VEEDU | Dr Bijukumar Damodaran | |
| KALLA NOTTAM | Rahul Riji Nair | Best Film |
| MOHANDAS | P Sheshadri | |
| TRIPLE WHAMMY | Anish Chacko | |
| BITTERSWEET | Ananth Narayan Mahadevan | |

**International Competition: Innovation in Moving Images**

| Title | Director | Notes |
| - | - | - |
| SHAMBALA | Artykpai Suiundukov | Golden Royal Bengal Tiger Award for Best Director |
| Going Blind | Haci Orman | |
| AQUARIUM | Deepesh T | |
| GHOST IMAGE | Sang Jun Lee | |
| The Presumption Of Guilt | Oleg Asadulin | |
| Blindfold | Taras Dron | Special Jury Mention |
| Snails Club | Michele Senesi | |
| THE WAY TO PARADISE | Wahid Sanouji | |
| BANDAR BAND | Manijeh Hekmat | Golden Royal Bengal Tiger Award for Best Film |

**Competition on Indian Documentary Films**

| Title | Director | Notes |
| - | - | - |
| On The Brink - Season 2 - Bats | Akanksha Sood Singh | |
| Highways Of Life | Amar Maibam | Best Indian Documentary Film |
| The Museum Man | Sabyasachi Banerji | |
| Niranjan Pradhan - Journey Of A Sculptor | Anjan Bose | |
| Advidiya | Anubhab Ganguly, Sourasis Bose | |
| Who Says The Lepchas Are Vanishing | Abhyuday Khaitan | |
| My Brother Alpha | Shantanu Mondal , Rani Bed Banshi | |
| Bhobo Nodir Pare | Nikhilesh Mattoo | |
| Chera Tamshuk | Suvarthi Mohanti | |
| Dancing With Nature | Malay Dasgupta | |

**Competition on Indian Short Films**

| Title | Director | Notes |
| - | - | - |
| Welcome Uncle | Sandipan Bhattacharya | |
| Khisa | Raj Pritam More | |
| Naked Voice | Deepankar Prakash | |
| Virus | Anindya Bose | |
| Beyond Hope | Rohit Kumar | |
| An Odyssey Of Gayatri | Abhra Chakraborty | |
| Nothing Happened | Himanshu Mishro Mondal | |
| Jaltarang | Jhimli Roy | |
| Resurgence | Sreemon Das | |
| Sudurabhase | Nilanjan Karmakar | |
| Balai | Suvobrata Roy Chowdhury, Arpita Chatterjee | |
| Binimoy | Tanvi Chowdhary | |
| Salana Jalsa | Pratik Thakare | |
| Chicken Tehari | Nasrina Khan | |
| Newborn Poetry | L.Priyanka | |
| Nspect ANT | Suman Paul | |
| Still Alive | Onkar Diwadkar | |
| Get Up And Rise | Samik Roy Choudhury | |
| Your Kunti | Rajat Roy, Arunava Mukherjee | |
| Dusk | Ujjal Paul | Best Indian Short Film |

### Non-Competition Categories

**Bengali Panorama**

| Title | Director |
| - | - |
| SAHOBASHE | Anjan Kanjilal |
| PUNGLINGO STRILINGO | Subrata Sen |
| MICHHIL | SURAJIT NAG, UJJWAL BASU |
| BISH | Jyotishman Chattopadhyay |
| DAAYE | Jyotirmay Deb |
| SUNYO | Shankha Ghosh |
| TITLI | Bishikh Talukdar |
| BEAUTIFUL LIFE | Raju Debnath |

**Cinema International**

| Title | Director |
| - | - |
| Genus Pan | Lav Diaz |
| Thou Shalt Not Hate | Mauro Mancini |
| Miss Marx | Susanna Nicchiarelli |
| In Between Dying | Hilal Baydarov |
| LAILA IN HAIFA | Amos Gitai |
| Charlatan | Agnieszka Holland |
| There Is No Evil | Mohammad Rasoulof |
| Dear Comrades | Andrei Sergeyevich Mikhalkov Konchalovsky |
| True Mothers | Naomi Kawase |
| Summer Of 85 | Francois Ozon |
| High Ground | Stephen Maxwell Johnson |
| Nadia, Butterfly | Pascal Plante |
| THE MAN WHO SOLD HIS SKIN | Kaouther Ben Hania |
| Oskar & Lilli | ARASH T. RIAHI |
| Rival | Marcus Lenz |
| THE TIES | Daniele Luchetti |

**Short & Documentary Panorama**

| Title | Director |
| - | - |
| HOLY RIGHTS | Farha khatun |
| GRACE | Smarak Samarjeet |
| BOUND BY US | Chinmoy Sonowal |
| WE THE BROKEN COGS IN THE MACHINE | Sonatan Karmakar |
| KOLKATA DAIRY | Zhangna |
| ECO FRIENDLY GANGASAGAR MELA | Shila Datta |
| ANONYMOUS | Mithunchandra Chaudhari |
| THE ROOFTOP - THE STORY OF A PSYCHIATRIST AND A RAPED GIRL | Avirup Biswas |
| MY UNBLOOD BROTHER | Iqbaal Rizzvi |
| LACHHKA DANGIR KATHA | BUDDHADEB BARMAN |
| LAPTOP: A LOCKDOWN FILM | PREMENDU BIKASH CHAKI |
| ARTIST | Tony James |
| CHITTOKHOV | Soumajit Das |
| JANAIKA | Samya Mandal |
| KARBALA KATHA | Sourav Sarangi |
| CHAK CHAGE IMA | JENISH SALAM |
| COLDFIRE | Riddhi Sen |

**Special Screening**

| Title | Director |
| - | - |
| Swimming Out Till The Sea Turns Blue | Jia Zhang Ke |
| LAALI | Abhiroop Basu |
| MEE RAQSAM | Baba Azmi |

**Special Tributes**

| Person | Title | Director |
| - | - | - |
| Amala Shankar | KALPANA | Uday Shankar |
| Basu Chatterjee | CHHOTI SI BAAT | Basu Chatterjee |
| Farnando Solanas | SUR | Farnando Solanas |
| Irrfan Khan | Paan SIngh Tomar | Tigmanshu Dhulia |
| Kim Ki Duk | Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... And Spring | Kim Ki Duk |
| Rishi Kapoor | MULK | Anubhav Sinha |
| Santu Mukhopadhyay | Autumn Bird | Urmi Chakraborty |
| Soumitra Chattopadhyay | Dekha | Gautam Ghose |
| Soumitra Chattopadhyay | GANADEVATA | Tarun Majumdar |
| Soumitra Chattopadhyay | WHEEL CHAIR | Tapan Sinha |
| Soumitra Chattopadhyay | Up In The Clouds | Mrinal Sen |
| Soumitra Chattopadhyay | The World Of Apu | Satyajit Ray |
| Soumitra Chattopadhyay | MAYURAKSHI | Atanu Ghosh |
| Soumitra Chattopadhyay | Kony | Saroj De |
| Soumitra Chattopadhyay | Footsteps | Suman Ghosh |
| Soumitra Chattopadhyay | BOHOMAAN | Anumita Dasgupta |
| Tapas Pal | DADAR KIRTI | Tarun Majumdar |
| Tapas Pal | 8:08 ER BONGAON LOCAL | Debaditya Bandopadhyay |

**Centenary Tribute**

| Person | Title | Director |
| - | - | - |
| Bhanu Bandyopadhyay | BHRANTI BILAS | Manu Sen |
| Bhanu Bandyopadhyay | BHUBON-MOY BHANU | Sarmistha Chakraborty |
| Eric Rohmer | The Marquise Of O | Eric Rohmer |
| Federico Fellini | I VITELLONI | Federico Fellini |
| Federico Fellini | LA VOCE DELLALUNA | Federico Fellini |
| Federico Fellini | The Truth About La Dolce Vita | Giuseppe Pedersoli |
| Federico Fellini | LA DOLCE VITA | Federico Fellini |
| Federico Fellini | Juliet Of The Spirits | Federico Fellini |
| Federico Fellini | 8 1/2 | Federico Fellini |
| Hemanta Mukhopadhyay | SAPTAPADI | Ajoy Kar |
| Pandit Ravi Shankar | ANURADHA | Hrishikesh Mukherjee |

**Youth Day Celebration**

| Title | Director |
| - | - |
| You are the Creator of Your Own Destiny | Nityanand Datta |
| Swami Vivekanand | Nirmal Dey |
| Bireswar Vivekananda | Madhu Bose |
| Biler Diary | Biswarup Biswas |

## Winners

* Golden Royal Bengal Tiger Award for Best Film (Innovation in Moving Pictures): Bander Band - Manijeh Hekmat
* Golden Royal Bengal Tiger Award for Best Director (Innovation in Moving Pictures) : Shambala - Artykpai Suiundukov
* Golden Royal Bengal Tiger Award for Best Short: Dusk - Ujjwal Pal
* Golden Royal Bengal Tiger Award for Best Documentary - Highways of Life - Amar Maibam
* Special Jury mention (Innovation in Moving Pictures) : Blindfold - Taras Dron
* Hiralal Sen Memorial Award Best Film (Indian Languages) : False Eye (Kalla Nottam) - Rahul Riji Nair
* Hiralal Sen Memorial Award Best Director (Indian Languages) : God On the Belcony - Biswajit Bhora
* NETPAC Award for Best Film : NONAJOLER KABBO - Rezwan Shahriar Sumit
