Suchitra Sen International Bengali Film Festival in New York ends after packed weekend
The festival marks the 93rd birthday of legendary Bengali actress Suchitra Sen, aimed at showing the world her contributions to Bangali cinema and culture, and was organised by the Suchitra Sen Memorial
The two-day international film festival honouring Suchitra Sen has concluded after a weekend where the organisers struggled to handle the audience that had exceeded their expectations to a startling degree.
The festival marks the 93rd birthday of legendary Bengali actress Suchitra Sen, aimed at showing the world her contributions to Bangali cinema and culture, and was organised by the Suchitra Sen Memorial.
Actor and member of Parliament Ferdous Ahmed officially opened the festival in New York on Saturday (20 April) morning.
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409 films from different countries including India and Bangladesh were submitted for exhibition at the event, of which 39 films were selected for exhibition through the jury. There was no entry fee for this festival.
Despite the overall success of the event, there were issues that prevented programmes from starting on time, to severe overcrowding. The Jamaica Performing Arts Center has 400 seats, however over 500 visitors crowded inside, with at least a thousand outside unable to enter.
The festival authorities apologised for the mismanagement, and stated that a larger venue would be used in the future.
Popular actors, actresses and invited guests from Bangladesh and West Bengal of India were present together for the films.
Chanchal Chowdhury, Bandhan, Joy, Rituparna Sen, Nanjiba Khan and Reshmi Mitra, several actors, actresses and directors were also present at the festival.
