Kalpanirjhar short fiction film fest starts on November 1

Kolkata: Over 126 films from 15 countries will be screened over five days in the 10th Kalpanirjhar International Short Fiction Film Festival starting here from Thursday.

The annual festival, only one of its kind in south Asia, brings together the best of short fiction films produced all over the world, particularly from Germany. Some of the Indian films which will be screened include ‘Gramaphone’ by Magesh Kolleri, ‘Music of the Broom’ by Sajin Babu, ‘Journey to Nagaland’ by Aditi Chitre, Sumanta Roychowdhury`s ‘Daughter of Sagarka’ and ‘Photu’ by Kunal Walve. The international fare includes works like ‘The Decisive Moment’ by Wong Wai-kit from Hongkong, Spanish director Haritz Zubillaga`s ‘She`s lost Control’, Afghan film ‘You don`t belong to this Country’ and ‘In the Nick of Time’ from Germany. The shortest film to be screened is of 1.36 minutes duration while the longest is 30 minutes long, S V Raman of Kalpanirjhar Foundation, the organisers, said. The films would be shown at the auditorium of Max Mueller Bhavan. A national jury will select the best Indian short fiction film from 39 shortlisted entries for the Patton Award carrying a cash prize of Rs 20,000. Giving a platform to young talents, more than 50 student films would be screened under the Gen Next section. Participants include Humburg Media School from Germany, Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, Kolkata and Screen Academy, Scotland. A collection of seven works from the Dresden Film Festival will also be screened. Other categories include short films from Germany which were shown in Cannes 2012, a selection of new German animation films and recent German short films for children and youth. Well-known Bengali actor Dhritiman Chatterjee will inaugurate the five-day festival on November 1. PTI