KOLKATA: The city will be treated to “The Letters” and some of the most internationally acclaimed documentaries as part of the four-day Mother Teresa International Film Festival (MTIFF), starting Friday.

The Indian premiere of “The Letters” has been awaited ever since the screening at the Vatican, last year, at the International Catholic film festival, that saw its lead actress Juliet Stevenson and director bag top awards.

Set mostly during the late 1940s and the early 50s, the film, written and directed by William Riead, follows the Nobel laureate on a straightforward path as she decides to leave her teaching order to work with the impoverished.

Riead was inspired by Gandhi, Richard Attenborough’s Oscar-winning classic. “Juliet, too, has brought Mother Teresa back to life,” said Sunil Lucas, global director of the festival that is due to travel several Indian cities and at least 50 countries.

Talking to TOI the day before the festival, Lucas said, “The festival’s films will portray the ‘power of one’, how one demure lady from Albania took a major decision in the face of severe adversity, and made this one person the role model for millions across the world.”

If The Letters is about Mother’s secret letters, published in 2007, which revealed her crises of faith, the other film, the other big draw will be the festival opener: Mother Teresa, the 82-minute powerful and inspiring film shot in 10 countries and four continents. From the war in Beirut to Guatemala under siege, from the streets of Kolkata to the ghettoes of South Bronx, the film is an experience of the way Mother Teresa transcended all political, religious and social barriers with her service.

“It’s one of the most comprehensive films on the Mother, only screened at special placed like the Indian Parliament, the UN headquarters, the Vatican and in the White House … this will be the film’s second public screening,” said Lucas.

In India, the festival’s next stop is Shillong (6 to 9 September), and abroad, Dublin.

The organisers, the Archdiocese of Kolkata Missionaries of Charity and SIGNIS India (Indian Chapter of World Catholic Association for Communicaion), have insisted that each and every venue for the festival should be secular. MTIFF) travels to places like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Udaipur, Guwahati, Patna, Indore, Ranchi, the four cities in Kerala, and UK, Malaysia, Ireland, Italy, Australia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and China.
Free entries to the festival will be available on first-come-first-serve basis. The 86 screenings in Nandan I, II, III and IV will feature 23 films from seven countries, eight from India, seven from USA, two each from France and UK, and one each from Spain, Italy, Canada and Japan.

The festival will be different from the ones held in the government-run Nandan complex. For, the audience will comprise destitute persons, underprivileged and inmates from several homes in Kolkata. Nandan VI has been equipped with a ramp for the specially-abled from Mentaid, Manovikas Kendra, IICP, Asha Niketan and other NGOs. The specially-abled audience will be ferried in special buses.

source:Times of India