Dear Patron,
2013 is being celebrated as “ 100 years of Indian cinema” across the world. As part of that global movement, Amrita-Seattle and Databazaarmedia bring to you the 1st Seattle Bengali International Film Festival (BIFF)– showcasing the best of contemporary Bengali cinema. The festival is a fund raiser for Amrita-Seattle, a 501(c)3 organization working on development projects in West Bengal.
The festival runs from Jun 28th to Jun 30th at Kirkland Performance Center and features 6 Bengali films, all with subtitles in English.
If this is your first foray into Bengali movies, then we recommend the following films:
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Abohoman
(The Eternal)
FRIDAY 28th June, 7:30PM
Directed by Rituparno Ghosh
Starring : Deepankar De, Mamata Shankar, Ananya Chatterjee, Jisshu Sengupta, Riya Sen
National Film Award winner for Best Bengali Film (2010)
Aniket (Deepankar Dey) is one of the Bengal's foremost film directors. Deepti (Mamta Shankar) walked into Aniket's casting call and his life many years ago. Happily married ever since, Deeti has built her life around the world of Aniket. And that world is tossed into a whirlpool when Shikha appears. Shikha, an actress with an uncanny resemblance to the young Deepti, consumes Aniket's imagination. And therein begins our story.
Who is the real love? Who is the real muse? Where do the lines blur?
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Oh Henry!
SATURDAY 29th June, 7:00PM
Directed by Animesh Roy
Starring : Locket Chatterjee, Dibyendu Mukherjee, Pooja Bose
Megh (Locket Chatterjee) is an authoress who has been inspired by the American author O' Henry to write her latest novel Henry. It has bagged her the Kolkata Author's award and made her the center of media attention. She is media shy - denying reporters the opportunity to get that elusive interview. But one such journalist - Aakash (Dibyendu Mukherjee) captures her fancy - because she finds the hero of her novel in him, in every which way.
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Shobdo
(Sound)
SUNDAY 30th June, 4:30PM
Directed by Kaushik Ganguly
Starring : Ritwik Chakraborty, Raima Sen, Churni Ganguly, Victor Banerjee, Srijit Mukherji
National Award winner for Best Bengali Film (2013)
Footsteps walking away, squeaking doors, breaking glass - even the swishing sounds of the heroine's dress – Foley artists recreate these everyday sounds for films. Foley art, when well integrated into a film, goes unnoticed by the audience. Foley artists too go unnoticed by the audience.
Shobdo tells the story of Tarakh, a foley artist who holds his work in high esteem. He considers himself a master craftsman recreating sounds of the universe dressed in his underwear and confined to a sound studio. Tarakh’s work soon becomes his obsession where his mind starts registering only the ambience sounds, drowning out human voices and making him oblivious to the reality around him.
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Bakita Byaktigoto
(Rest is Personal)
SATURDAY 29th June, 4:00PM
Directed by Pradipta Bhattacharya
Starring : Madhabi Mukherjee, Ritwick Chakraborty, Aparajita Ghosh Das, Supriya Dutta, Churni Ganguly
Pramit, an independent filmmaker who is yet to experience the spell of love in his otherwise not-so exciting life, starts shooting a documentary film on love. His exploration leads him to the baffling knowledge of an unforetold mysterious village, existent on what is believed to be the threshold of reality and fantasy. If anyone ever reaches there, stumbling upon a series of coincidences, cannot steer clear of Cupid's arrow, and readily falls in love. Pramit, along with his cameraperson starts looking for the village and subsequently passes through a succession of events which can be termed nothing but magical! Love, with all its colors - sublime as well as physical - doesn't fail to come his way too, or, does it really?
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