Who and Why is the Calcutta International Film Festival?
WHO AND WHY IS THE CALCUTTA INTERNATIONAL CULT FILM FESTIVAL?
“CICFF is not just another film festival. It's a complete support network for independent filmmakers.” - financialsmachar.com “The event's goals are to introduce more people to art-house cinema. We would like to see films made primarily for aesthetic and philosophical reasons.” - enigmatixweb.com "CICFF could be said as filmmaker's festival rather a film festival, as the festival has been launched to support independent filmmakers in this highly competitive field." - Shailik Bhaumik By E.J. Wickes 
On March 25th, Calcutta International Cult Film Festival hosted its second live screening event in Kolkata, India. This will be a continuous process up until the annual premiere of the final awards ceremony. There the winners from each month will compete for the Golden Fox, the CICFF's premier award for the 'Best of' their category. And why should any of this matter to filmmakers? With approximately 4700 film festivals running worldwide, what makes CICFF so different? Well, according to Shailik Bhaumik, the founder and Executive Director and Chairman of Human Lab Corporation Studios, this is how he sees the challenges of the industry and how the CICFF can better serve the independent filmmaker. The fact is that in the digital era the cost of making film has been reduced drastically and as a result, the number of film productions have increased significantly. Earlier, there were only few prestigious international film festivals such as Cannes, Venice, Berlin and Toronto, etc. and qualifying for those festivals is very tough. With easier access to digital technology, many entrepreneurs who had little or no knowledge of world cinema got into the film festival business purely for profit. These film festivals have neither the proper infrastructure nor qualified people. As a result they cannot provide anything apart from a laurel (Leaf). Filmmakers having multiple laurels on their posters finally realize that these film festivals can’t provide anything but mental satisfaction. All films are made for business as it requires huge investment. So when a filmmaker realizes that he can’t earn any revenue from his film, he becomes frustrated. There are very few film festivals in the world that can provide a filmmaker a complete package. And so, an innovative group of filmmakers, film producers, film distributors and artists from all over the world, have joined to become Human Lab Corporation. HLC is a multinational film company that is developing an innovative, multi-faceted platform to bring complete solutions and provide more access to the independent filmmaker.
RECOGNITION, PUBLICITY, DISTRIBUTION
Recognition: Calcutta International Cult Film Festival is a division of HLC, which has been introduced to discover talent from all over the world. Through CICFF, we want to help indie filmmakers find success by celebrating their achievements through international recognition and awards. Publicity: Through our new media platform Cult Critic Film Magazine, we are now able to give publicity to emerging filmmakers as well as seasoned professionals. Through our unique artist on artist approach, we provide constructive film reviews and interviews with important and emerging filmmakers. Distribution: And soon, a very exciting addition to the package will be launched! Our own digital streaming platform called The Acid Factory, through which we will be able to distribute independent films globally. CICFF is also going to organize an International Film Market: Piazze Di Cinema during its annual event. Through Piazze Di Cinema we are going to develop a platform on which the film fraternity can access the worldwide dialogue on research, film production, co-production and distribution. In achieving this we hope to render the world film industry with a new distinctive identity and bring the producers, exhibitors and the skilled and creative personalities together right under one virtual roof. Ours is not just another international film festival. It’s a complete support system for independent filmmakers. Through this we are building a trusted community of filmmakers interested in making a difference. This is the motivation behind launching Calcutta International Cult Film Festival.
CALCUTTA INTERNATIONAL CULT FILM FESTIVAL
The film festival Committee believes it is important to have interaction between filmmakers and the audience on regular basis. Films are made for the audience, not for the film festivals. The duty of a film festival is to connect filmmakers to their audience. To build a bridge between supply and demand. At the same time the objective of CICFF is to educate audience through entertainment. To create the consumers of Cult cinema. To create the need of counter cinema. Mission: The sole purpose of Calcutta International Cult Film Festival ™ (CICFF), 2017 is to develop a film culture that inspires and brings together cross-cultural innovations that enrich people’s lives with entertainment: and services that inform educate and entertain. The event's goals are to introduce more people to art house cinema. We would like to see films made primarily for aesthetic and philosophical reasons. We believe that a story driven by a genuine expression can stimulate new thoughts that have the power to promote the fundamental principles of humanism; expand creative frontiers; stimulate new levels of compassion, and even lead to social change. The film festival is an organization dedicated to the discovery and development of new Artists and Audiences. The film festival seeks to support and inspire independent film and theatre artists from all over the world, and to introduce audiences to their new work. We also welcome established Art-house filmmakers, who have already produced a major contribution to the art of filmmaking. CICFF is a monthly film festival with an annual LIVE screening of the selected films. Each month films from each category will be officially selected and out of them one film will receive the Best of Category award. In each month we’ll publish an academic and detailed review of the award winning films in our international digital publication, Cult Critic™ Film Magazine. In addition, the best of each month's category will compete with all the others at the end of the year and the best of the best in each category will receive the prestigious GOLDEN FOX AWARD™ and they will be screened in the presence of a live audience. The annual event will be a glamorous red carpet premiere with press conferences and gala parties at Kolkata in the presence of international movie celebrities. The participants will have excellent opportunities to exchange their ideas, ideologies and cultural innuendos. The winners will have a chance to meet with the audience and participate in a Q and A after the screening. CICFF is a division of Human Lab Corporation™, a leading International film production and distribution company. At CICFF, we will be providing incentives for winning films, and present promotional strategies for the winning films and their film directors. First we will conduct an Interview with the director which will be posted in our HLC portal, plus a published review by one of our esteemed writers from CULT CRITIC magazine. But that's not all: CICFF will take you global with international distribution opportunities for your films. CICFF is a film festival celebrating the arts, liberation and independence. We promote liberated platforms for all independent filmmakers throughout the World. And, irrespective of their subject matter, we will assure an international platform for them all. In closing, CICFF guarantees outstanding selections each month, as the film festival will be held on a monthly-basis. Hence we are going to create a culture that leads to “directors in the making” every month. Yes! That’s the perfect idiom for the Calcutta International Cult Film Festival™. HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE EVENT
