National Award winner Aditya Vikram Sengupta’s Bengali film, Once Upon A Time In Calcutta, will be in competition at the Venice International Film Festival this year. It will compete in the Orizzonti section and will be the only Indian film at the 78th Venice fete. The film will have its world premiere at the festival which will be held from September 1 to 11.
Twenty-one years ago, Buddhadeb Dasgupta’s Uttara won the special director’s award there. OUATIC will be an Indian film going to the Venice film festival after 21 years. Bengal’s first connection with the Venice film fete was in 1934 when Debaki Kumar Bose’s Seeta became the first Indian talkie to be shown at any international festival and won an honorary diploma at Venice. Satyajit Ray’s Aparajito won the Golden Lion at the 1957 Venice Film Festival.