The Sixth Kalpanirjhar International Short Fiction Film Festival 2008 was inaugurated on November 1, 2008 at 6.00 pm by Sunil Gangopadhyay, Chairman, Sahitya Akademi, with veteran filmmaker Mrinal Sen as the Guest of Honour. Other guests and speakers on stage were Dr Reimar Volker, Director, Goethe Institute / Max Mueller Bhavan Kolkata; Sanjay Budhia, Managing Director, Patton India Limited; Douglas Kelly, Director, American Center; Agnes Rouquie, Acting Director, Alliance Fracaise du Bengale; Goutam Ghose, Chairman, Kalpanirjhar Foundation; Sandip Ray, Managing Trustee, Kalpanirjhar Foundation. The Master of Ceremonies was Mr. S.V. Raman.
The Festival was held from 1-5 November 2008. It was organized by Kalpanirjhar Foundation and Goethe Institute / Max Mueller Bhavan Kolkata. It was co-sponsored by PATTON in association with Alliance Francaise du Bengale and American Center, Kolkata. The Festival featured 87 films: 29 from Germany, 19 from India, 12 from France, 8 from the USA, 3 from Russia, 2 from Italy and 1 each from Estonia, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, Turkey, Norway, Iceland, Argentina and Ireland. Out of these, 18 films were in the animation format.
This year’s highlights were:
- Short & Sweet - 15 selected animation films from Germany, from a series of the same name compiled by the Goethe-Institut Munich
- Award-winners from the USA - 6 films selected specially for this Festival by the American Center Kolkata
- GenNext - 22 films that are selected from Film Schools in India and Germany
- All Human Beings are Born Free and Equal - A selection of award-winners from a competition organized by the “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future” Foundation and the Goethe-Institut. This selection included 11 films from Germany, Estonia, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Ukraine and the USA
- Acclaimed Shorts from France - A selection of 11 films courtesy the Alliance Francaise du Bengale
- Independent entries - 9 selected films, 7 from India, 1 from Belgium and 1 from the Netherlands;
- Filmfest Dresden 2008 at Kalpanirjhar - A selection of 6 awarded European films curated by Robin Mallick, Director, Filmfest Dresden
- Capalbio 2008 at Kalpanirjhar - A selection of 6 films from this year’s Capalbio ShortFilmFest. The selection included films from Germany, Norway, Iceland, Italy, Argentina and France.
- 19 Indian films competing for the Patton Award for the Best Indian Short Fiction Film of the Year at the Festival.
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