Get up close with international filmmakers at KIFF chat hub

Film buffs can now meet and talk to international delegates - including renowned filmmakers, scriptwriters and producers -at the ongoing 20th Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) courtesy a film discussion 'adda' hub at the festival premises, organisers said Tuesday.

KIFF kicked-off Monday.

"The public is curious to find out about the international delegates. So we have decided to reach out to them and let them meet and interact with the delegates at a special 'adda' (discussion or chat in Bengali) hub at the Nandan theatre premises.

"We will request the delegates to interact with the masses at the hub," KIFF director Yadab Mondal told reporters here.

Among them are Australian humanist filmmaker Paul Cox and Iranian actress-director Nikki Karimi.

Boasting of a rich oeuvre of 137 films from 60 countries, the fest will see 40 international delegates and 15 segments. There will be 31 Indian films, including 13 Bengali films. It concludes Nov 17.

The first day of the fest also saw the screening of the Green Oscar-winning film "Sirocco - How a Dud became a Stud" in the 'Short films and Documentary' segment.

The 15-minute film centres around a Kakapo parrot named Sirocco. Kakapos are critically endangered bird species native to New Zealand.

Shot by Ashwika Kapur, a 26-year-old science and natural history filmmaker from West Bengal, itAnarrates the "rags-to-riches" story of Sirocco, the Kakapo parrot, so popular that the New Zealand government made it the country's official spokesbird for conservation.

In addition, an exhibition of photographs documenting late Bengali screen legend Suchitra Sen's contribution to the film industry was inaugurated Tuesday by her actress-daughter Moon Moon Sen.