Omicron Coronavirus Impact: Kolkata International Film Festival postponed over Covid scare

The Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF), which was supposed to commence on Friday, has been postponed indefinitely considering the rising cases of Covid-19 in West Bengal.

The KIFF was scheduled to be held between January 7 and 14.

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A release issued by the state Information and Culture Department said, "After assessing the present Covid situation in the state, and taking into consideration the possibility of further contamination of Covid among the cine lovers and citizens, and also owing to the fact that a number of cine personalities attached to the film festival committee and many others have been affected by Covid, the state government, upon careful consideration to the safety of the citizens, has decided to temporarily postpone the 27th Kolkata International Film Festival scheduled to be held from January 7-14. The next date of the festival will be communicated in due course."

The development comes just a day after the organisers of KIFF announced plans to go ahead with the event by capping the capacity of the venues 50 per cent.

During a press conference on Tuesday, the organisers had said that the one-week event will start from Friday and will feature 200 shows of 180 films. As part of the event, the films were supposed to be screened in 10 different theatres across the state capital.

The festival that was supposed to be opened virtually by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had Finland as the focus country this year. It was supposed to be opened with Satyajit Ray's 1970 film ‘Aranyer Din Ratri'.

On Tuesday, West Bengal had reported 9,073 fresh Covid cases, an increase of over 49.27 per cent in a single day, with Kolkata accounting for more than half of the infections. The state also logged 16 fresh fatalities on Tuesday that pushed its overall Covid death toll to 19,810.