Mrinal Sen was an Indian film director and screenwriter known for his work primarily in Bengali, and a few Hindi and Telugu language films. Regarded as one of the finest Indian filmmakers, along with his contemporaries Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak, and Tapan Sinha, Sen played a major role in the New Wave cinema of eastern India.
Anjan Dutt is an Indian film director, actor, and singer-songwriter known for his work in the Bengali alternative music genre anyodharar gaan. As an actor, Dutta began his career in Bengali cinema in the Mrinal Sen film Chaalchitra, for which he won the best newcomer actor award at the Venice Film Festival. He acted in Aparna Sen's hit film, Mr. and Mrs. Iyer. In 2018 he featured in Swapnasandhani's new play Taraye Taraye, as Vincent van Gogh, under the direction of Kaushik Sen.
The Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) is an annual film festival held in Kolkata, India. Founded in 1995, it is the third oldest international film festival in India. The festival is organized by the West Bengal Film Centre under the West Bengal Government. In 2019, it was held from 8 November to 15 November.
Tapan Sinha was one of the most prominent Indian film directors of his time forming a legendary quartet with Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak and Mrinal Sen. He was primarily a Bengali filmmaker who worked both in Hindi cinema and Bengali cinema, directing films like Kabuliwala (1957), Louha-Kapat, Sagina Mahato (1970), Apanjan (1968), Kshudhita Pashan and children's film Safed Haathi (1978) and Aaj Ka Robinhood. Sinha started his career in 1946, as a sound engineer with New Theatres film production house in Kolkata, then in 1950 left for England where he worked at Pinewood Studios for next two years, before returning home to start his six decade long career in Indian cinema, making films in Bengali, Hindi and Oriya languages, straddling genres from social realism, family drama, labor rights, to children's fantasy films. He was one of the acclaimed filmmakers of Parallel Cinema movement of India.
Atanu Ghosh Ghosh is a National-Award-winning Indian filmmaker, screenwriter, author and teacher. His Bengali film Mayurakshi (2017) was awarded the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Bengali. His film Shesh Pata, Angshumaner Chhobi, Mayurakshi, Binisutoy, Abby Sen and Rupkatha Noy, bagged multiple awards.Atanu started his career as a scriptwriter and director for documentary films in 1996. For his work in Aar Ek Bampi, he received the Doordarshan National Award for Best Children's Telefilm.
Cinema of West Bengal, also known as Tollywood or Bengali cinema, is the segment of Indian cinema, dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Bengali language widely spoken in the state of West Bengal. It is based in the Tollygunge region of Kolkata, West Bengal, India. The origins of the nickname Tollywood, a portmanteau of the words Tollygunge and Hollywood, dates back to 1932. It was a historically important film industry, at one time the centre of Indian film production. The Bengali film industry is known for producing many of Indian cinema's most critically acclaimed global Parallel Cinema and art films, with several of its filmmakers gaining prominence at the Indian National Film Awards as well as international acclaim.
Raja Sen is an Indian film and television director and the winner of three National Film Awards from Kolkata, West Bengal, India. He is the father of Subhasree Sen and Sreyoshri Sen.
Meghe Dhaka Tara is a 2013 Indian Bengali film directed by Kamaleswar Mukherjee and made under Shree Venkatesh Films banners. The film is inspired by the life and works of Bengali film director Ritwik Ghatak. The entire film is in black and white except the last scene which has been shot in colour. In this film Saswata Chatterjee plays the character of Nilkantha Bagchi and Ananya Chatterjee plays the role of Durga, Nilkantha's wife. The film was released on 14 June 2013. Besides giving an account of Ghatak's life, the film also depicts the socio-political environment of contemporary West Bengal during the Tebhaga and Naxalite movements.
Kamaleswar Mukherjee, M.B.B.S. is an Indian film director, actor, and physician known for his work in Bengali-language films. Films directed by him include Chander Pahar (2013), Meghe Dhaka Tara (2013), Amazon Obhijaan (2017) Cockpit (2017).
Teenkahon is a 2014 Psychological mystery-thriller Bengali film directed by Bauddhayan Mukherji and produced by Monalisa Mukherji under the banner of Little Lamb Films.
Sudeshna Roy is an Indian film director, actor and writer based in Tollywood. She started her career as an entertainment journalist before collaborating with the director Abhijit Guha and foraying into the film industry. She is a popular artist in the Bangla Entertainment Industry. Besides directing films, she acted in several films, daily soaps and web series. The duo debuted with their first film Shudhu Tumi, and then they made several films in varied genres. However, they are known to make urban middle-class romantic comedy films. They worked with Abir Chatterjee, who debuted in their film Cross Connection in 2009. They came into prominence after their critically acclaimed film Teen Yaari Kotha. Teen Yaari Katha was showcased in the competition section of Osian's Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema in 2012. It travelled to the Bangkok International Film as well as Kolkata International Film Festival. Their film Bapi bari jaa is considered a cult classic among the Bangla film lovers. It also marked the debut of Arjun Chakraborty and MP Mimi Chakraborty in the Bangla film industry.
Amartya Bhattacharyya is a filmmaker, writer and artist from eastern India. He was awarded the Silver Lotus for the Best Cinematography in non-feature film at the 63rd National Film Awards by the president of India for his fantasy documentary 'Benaras-the unexplored attachments'. His second feature film 'Khyanikaa - The Lost Idea' featured as the only Odia film in the Indian Panorama section of 48th International Film Festival of India 2017. He was awarded the State film awards in Best Editing category for Khyanikaa - The Lost Idea at the 29th Odisha State Film Awards, conferred by the Government of Odisha.
Nabyendu Chatterjee was an Indian Bengali and Hindi film director and producer. A director of twelve feature films and three documentaries, Nabyendu has curved out a sure niche for him in the field of serious and useful cinema of India.
Indrasis Acharya is an Indian film director working in Bengali cinema. He came to the prominence after directing his first feature film, Bilu Rakkhosh which won acclaim in both national and international sphere. Indrasis next worked in Pupa which got rave reviews and won many awards and accolades including All India Critic Choice Award for Best Bengali film of 2018. It was in Hanoi international, Kolkata international film festivals and many more. Pupa won multiple awards and accolades around the globe including, Best Director and Best film awards. His third film was The Parcel for which he won the Best Director award at the 25th Kolkata International Film Festival.
The 25th Kolkata International Film Festival took place from 8 to 15 November 2019.
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.
The 24th Kolkata International Film Festival took place from 10 Nov 2018 – 17 Nov 2018. Celebrating 100 Years of Bengali cinema, Around 171 films and 150 short and documentary films from 70 countries was screened at the festival.
The 28th Kolkata International Film Festival was held from 15th to 22nd December 2022 at Netaji Indoor Stadium, in Kolkata, India. The festival opened with 1973 film Abhimaan, by Hrishikesh Mukherjee. 183 films including 130 feature films and 52 short and documentary films from 42 countries were screened during 7 days of the festival. The opening ceremony was attended by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Rani Mukerji, Mahesh Bhatt and cricketer Sourav Ganguly.
Abhinandan Banerjee is an Indian film director, scriptwriter, author, essayist, magazine editor, publisher, illustrator, painter and graphic designer. His debut feature The Cloud and the Man, which premiered at the 25th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, 2021 won the NETPAC award for Best Asian Film, at the 27th Kolkata International Film Festival.
The Cloud and the Man is a Bengali film directed by debutant director Abhinandan Banerjee and produced by Buaddhayan and Monalisa Mukherji. Actor Chandan Sen who portrayed the title role bagged the Best Actor Award at the 19th Pacific Meridian Film Festival, Russia.
