Runway’, the last film directed by acclaimed Bangladeshi filmmaker Tareque Masud, has been screened as the inaugural film at a Kolkata film festival.
The festival — International Forum of New Cinema, a seven-day film carnival, has been organised by India’s largest film society Cine Central to mark its 25th anniversary.
Catherine Masud, the wife of the late filmmaker who died in a traffic accident in August, presented the film before the audience at the starting of the festival at Metro Cinema Hall on Friday evening.
“Tareque is not here with me but I would like to believe that today he is here with us to experience the screening of the film. He lived, dreamt, and I think even died for cinema,” the Press Trust of India quoted Catherine as saying at the inauguration.
“This is the first screening of the film in India,” she said.
‘Runway’ focuses on terrorism being practiced using Islam as a front and the recruitment of struggling young men by such extremist organisations through creating a false illusion of their purpose in life using misinterpretations of religion.
Mrinal Sen and Soumitra Chatterjee attended the inaugural function as chief guests.
West Bengal governor M K Narayanan inaugurated the festival.