The 26th edition of Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF), which was scheduled to be held in November, has been postponed to January next year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee informed through twitter on Thursday.
The festival was initially scheduled on November 5 to November 12 with limited number of visitors. It has now been deferred to next year from January 8 to January 15, 2021.
"After receiving global film fraternity's consent, I hereby inform all stakeholders of Kolkata International Film Festival & cinelovers that our festival has been rescheduled, given the current circumstances. "It will now be held from Jan 8-15, 2021. Let the preparations begin!," Banerjee tweeted.
KIFF started in 1995 and organized 25 editions of the festival so far by the Information and Cultural Affairs department. The budget of the festival was increased in 2011 after the Trinamool Congress came to power and started drawing stars from Bollywood along with well-known names from Bengali cinema.