Bhubaneswar: Odia feature film ‘Adieu GODARD’ has made it to the prestigious 27th Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF), to be held between January 7 to 14.
This year, two Odia films—’Adieu GODARD’ and ‘Mindgame’—have been selected under Indian Language’s Films category. Directed and written by National Award-winning filmmaker Amartya Bhattacharya, the film is an India-France co-production.
Elated over the film’s entry into KIFF, Amartya feels proud to represent Odia film industry in a festival that’s acclaimed internationally. “I made my first Odia film in 2014. Many people thought that I was an outsider, though I never thought so. I love the language. I love the people of Odisha. Only for the love of Odisha, I started making Odia films. So, now after so many years, to represent Odisha at the prestigious film festival, it’s a big thing for me. It’s satisfying,” he says.
Amartya is also happy for the fact that this isn’t the only Odia film that has been selected for the festival. “Nothing can happen in isolation. Only when everyone starts making films and tries to challenge the status quo, the change comes. For the last two to three years, we can see that change coming in Odia cinema. The perception about Odia films will also change. Like, the perception for Assamese cinema has changed over the last few years. Thus, it is an encouraging change and only a matter of time when more youngsters will come forward in the Odia film industry,” he says.
Shot exquisitely in Odisha, the film is a socio-cultural comic tribute to the legendary French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard. Dipanwit Dashmohapatra, Sudharsri Madhusmita, Swastik Choudhury, Choudhury Jayaprakash Das, Shankar Basu Mallick, Abhishek Giri, Swetapadma Satpathy and Dr Banikanta Mishra play important characters in the film.
The music of the film has been composed by Kisaloy Roy, and popular icon of Rock music Rupam Islam has rendered his first Odia song in the film.
The film also had its world premiere at the Moscow International Film Festival in April this year. It has been produced by Swastik Arthouse in collaboration with FilmStop Entertainment and Les Films de la Haute-Vallée.
