Day five saw the people throng the Rabindra Sadan auditorium to watch Lina Wertmuller’s film All Screwed Up, one of the main reasons being that this film was kept under the section of All Time Great Films by the selection committee. It is an Italian film, made in 1974, depicting the lives of people who work in the kitchens of restaurants, their lovers and their families. They are mostly migrant workers who have come from the southern part of Europe. While one never gets to see the kitchens, they are symbolical of the society where some people have to work more and more in order to satisfy the appetite of certain sections of the society.

“The versatile cine actors Ms. Rekha and Mr. Kamal Hassan will be the Chief Guest of Opening and Closing ceremonies, respectively, in upcoming International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2008, besides the presence of the Governor of Goa, Shri. S.S Siddhu; the Chief Minister, Shri. Digamber Kamath and the Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, Shri. Anand Sharma ” announced Shri S.M. Khan Addl. D.G. & Director of Film Festivals here today.

The Film Bazaar in IFFI has more often than not been a laclustre affair, where a lot of talk is generated without much visible result - at least people don’t come to know about how and whether the Bazaar has helped development / finance / production of any film project. If officials are asked about it, the answer is: the Bazaar provides a platform for film industry people to connect, and since the follow ups happen at a one-on-one level, it is difficult to give a count of how many projects actually fructified thanks to the Bazaar.

The hero of Deshdrohi is KRK that stands for a small time actor called Kamal Rashid Khan. Since KRK is also the producer, so he decided to cast HIMSELF as the lead actor. I think by now all of have seen the promos of Deshdrohi so we know whom we are discussing. I can say that infront of KRK, apna Himesh Bhai looks like Al Pacino.

The promos were suggesting that the film is based on the issue of Marathi Vs Non-Marathi but let me tell you that they were absolutely misleading. The film has nothing to do with the issue. It’s a noxious cocktail of some of the worst scenes of some of the most awful movies of the eighties.

The first glimpses of the movie takes you to an island where Shilpa Shetty sings “Shut up and bounce” and Johns body is the attention of the minute. What then follows after this catchy number is a saga of a gay love story, which is a set up act. The very first scene seems without any link, what with Abhishek (Sam) and John (Kunal) being in the same house. If they already had a house, why had they to shift? Also, what you may wonder about is the fact that Kunal’s already live in girlfriend randomly asks him to leave the house and he gets his partner in crime, in Sam.

This is the first time that a 15 minute short film made by Satyajit Ray titled Two is being shown to the public. The last time it was shown was in 1974. Till now, there has been no print available with the archives here and hence a copy of the film was not available, forget downloading from the Net. It is still in the celluloid format and there is no near possibility of it being converted to the digital format.

Come November and Kolkata comes together at the cultural hub of the city to feel the warmth of global cinema. Having been the cultural capital of the nation, Kolkata may regret loosing out on the widely publicized nano project, but, any time, it may boast of its circle of intelligentsia. In terms of selection of films, exhibition pattern, discussions, seminars, one may well compare KFF with other biggies like International Film Festival-Goa, Osian’s Cinefan-Delhi and Kerala International Film Festival, but when it comes to participation by enlightened viewers Kolkata film festival stands apart.

Prayas Gupta’s film The Prisoner won jury grand prize in the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. This award is shared by China’s “The Red Awn”. While seasoned Bollywood director Yash Chopra received FIAPF Award for outstanding achievement in film at a ceremony held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.

Kazakh film Talpan got the main award APSA for Best Feature Film.