Mamata inaugurates 26th KIFF, allows full occupancy of Bengal theatres

West Bengal Chief Minister MamataBanerjee on Friday virtually inaugurated the 26th KolkataInternational Film Festival (KIFF) and allowed full occupancyof cinema halls in the state with adherence to COVID safetyprotocols.

The inaugural ceremony was also virtually attended byBollywood superstar and West Bengal's brand ambassador ShahRukh Khan from Mumbai.

Legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray's classic 'ApurSansar' will be the inaugural film of the festival in which131 movies from 45 countries will be screened till January 13.

Banerjee, while delivering her inaugural address fromstate secretariat Nabanna, asked the cinema hall owners tomaintain all safety protocols including regular sanitisationof the theatres.

She asked Chief Secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay to issuea notification raising the occupancy limit of theatres from 50to 100 per cent.

The occupancy limit was restricted to ensure physicaldistancing inside the theatres.

Citing lesser revenues since the reopening of theatresin October last year and no known instance of the spread ofCOVID-19 through cinema halls, the theatre owners had recentlywritten a letter to the chief minister requesting her to allowfull occupancy of the establishments.

Banerjee said apart from issuing e-passes for seeingfilms in state-run auditoriums in Nandan-Rabindra Sadan andRabindra Okakura Bhavan, organisers should spare some thoughtfor people who are not well-versed with technology andsuggested if some films could be screened at the open-airtheatre in Nandan.

Despite the pandemic situation, the West Bengalgovernment has hosted the 26th KIFF on a smaller scale at atime when many organisers of other film festivals havecancelled their events, she said.

Banerjee paid tributes to legendary actor SoumitraChatterjee, who died due to post-COVID complications lastyear, and other luminaries and said a section will bededicated to their works.

She invited Khan to visit the state during RakshaBandhan and next year's KIFF, to which he replied inaffirmative.

The actor has been attending the film festival since2011 but could not visit Kolkata this year due to the pandemicsituation.

Several renowned actors were present in Nandan duringthe inauguration.