{"id":153047,"date":"2025-11-15T16:09:06","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T23:09:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=153047"},"modified":"2025-11-15T16:09:06","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T23:09:06","slug":"kiff-concludes-cuban-film-bags-best-film-trophy-best-director-award-goes-to-sri-lanka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2025\/11\/15\/kiff-concludes-cuban-film-bags-best-film-trophy-best-director-award-goes-to-sri-lanka\/","title":{"rendered":"KIFF concludes: Cuban film bags Best Film trophy,\u2008Best\u2008Director award goes to Sri Lanka"},"content":{"rendered":"

Courtesy The Indian Express<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n
\"KIFF,<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Chief Minister Banerjee further promised that the West Bengal government will organize the festival in a bigger and more colorful way next year. “I promise you, next year we will organize this Kolkata International Film Festival in a bigger and more colorful way,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who made a surprise appearance at the closing ceremony of the 31st Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF), extended an invitation to foreign delegates to invest in the state\u2019s film industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cuban film \u2018To the West in Zapata\u2019 by David Bim bagged the Golden Royal Bengal Tiger Award for the Best Film in International Competition on Innovation in Moving Images at the festival which concluded on Thursday. Sri Lankan movie \u2018Riverstone\u2019 by Lalith Rathnayake got the Golden Royal Bengal Tiger Award for Best Director category in the same section, while Croatian film \u2018Beautiful Evening, Beautiful Day\u2019 by Ivona Juka received the Special Jury Award for the Best Director.
Director Goutam Ghosh, internationally acclaimed for his slew of films including \u2018Paar\u2019, \u2018Padmanadir Majhi\u2019, \u2018Kalbela\u2019, \u2018Moner Manush\u2019, \u2018Raaghir\u2019 and \u2018Antarjali Yatra\u2019 was conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award in celebration of the 100th anniversary of FIPRESCI.
The Golden Royal Bengal Award for Best Indian documentary went to \u2018Bijoyee Japoner Patkatha\u2019 (The saga of a glorious life : Bijoylaxmi Barman) by Joydeep Banerjee<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Addressing the audience, CM Banerjee said, I came here today to personally thank you. But don\u2019t think we will not come here next year. You must come to our Kolkata<\/a> International Film Festival next year as well. But you will bring with you a goal, a dream. Along with \u2018vision\u2019, you should also have \u2018mission\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Story continues below this ad<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Highlighting the state\u2019s rich cultural heritage and natural resources, Banerjee said, We have no shortage of talent in Bengal. Apart from talented artists, there is no dearth of natural resources in our state. We have the Himalayas from dense forests to the eye-catching rivers and reservoirs from villages. There is a stunning beach. You will find everything in our Bengal. You just have to come here. Get in touch with our filmmakers, see the work of actors and actresses in our state. Let me say one thing, the name of Hollywood is world famous. Bollywood is also famous all over the world because their business is staggering. But remember, Bengal is the cradle of Indian culture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The chief minister assured the delegates that the state\u2019s film industry has the potential to produce world-class pictures, saying, If you join hands with Tollypara, they will be able to give you the best pictures in the world. I say loudly, our Bengali film industry has that power.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But yes, for that you have to stand by them, encourage, inspire. Let\u2019s do it together. If we join hands together, it will happen. you and I are like brothers and sisters. The whole world is like a house. Maybe a different country, someone looks different, someone has a different skin color\u2026and this is our culture. Culture of Bengal \u2013 unity in diversity. We do not believe in the principle of division, we believe in the principle of unity. We want to see a peaceful world,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chief Minister Banerjee further promised that the West Bengal government will organize the festival in a bigger and more colorful way next year. I promise you, next year we will organize this Kolkata International Film Festival in a bigger and more colorful way,\u201d she said.
\u2014 With PTI<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Courtesy The Indian Express Chief Minister Banerjee further promised that the West Bengal government will organize the festival in a bigger and more colorful way next year. “I promise you, next year we will organize this Kolkata International Film Festival in a bigger and more colorful way,” she said. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who made […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[181],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-153047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainments"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153047"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153047\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":153048,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153047\/revisions\/153048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}