Physical or digital screening Kolkata International Film Festival yet to decide

    Kolkata, Sep 16 (PTI) With the COVID-19 pandemic still
raging on, the authorities of 26th Kolkata International Film
Festival (KIFF) are yet to decide whether the annual carnival
of world and regional movies to be held in November will offer
physical screenings or digital ones.
    Preparatory work such as the selection of films in
different sections are going on but it is not clear how the
situation will unfold in November, a senior festival
organising committee member told PTI on Wednesday.
    KIFF is slated to be held between November 5 and 12.
    "We will strictly go by the advisories of the Union
health ministry and the state government as the COVID-19
situation has not abated in the country. One thing is for sure
that the 26th KIFF will take place.
    "However, whether it will be held in physical format
or any other format will be decided later. The situation is
still fluid," the organising committee member said.
    The state government, in consultation with all
stakeholders including members of the film fraternity and
international film bodies, will declare the format at an
appropriate time, he said.
    Physical screenings in a restrained manner were
organised in the Shanghai International Film Festival and the
Venice Film Festival in July and earlier this month
respectively.
    "But the pandemic is abating in those two places. The
situation is not the same here presently," he said. PTI SUS
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(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)