West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has dared the Centre once again, making China the focus country in Kolkata International Film Festival. As many as seven films of the country will be screened at the eight-day festival with Chinese delegates and filmmakers attending at a time when Delhi’s relations with Beijing are at a low following China’s move to block India’s bid for Nuclear Supplier’s Group membership and China’s tacit support to Pakistan at the BRICS summit in Goa after the Uri attack.
KIFF will be held in the city between November 11 and 18.
“We try and recognise good cinema from across the world. This year the focus country happens to be China,” said information and cultural affairs secretary Atri Bhattacharya.
“This is an international film festival. It does not have any political colour. We are here to promote good cinema,” Bhattacharya remarked when asked whether the move to invite China will carry political portents.
Significantly, Mamata Banerjee has often made it a point to emphasise her difference with the Centre. In January she invited Pakistani ghazal singer Ghulam Ali to perform in Kolkata after his show was cancelled in Mumbai and Pune following Shiv Sena protests.
In March 2015 Pakistan high commissioner to India, Abdul Basit, called on Mamata Banerjee at the state secretariat, which is not a very common practice and raised a few eyebrows.
[Via: Hindustan Times]
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