Thanks, that’s really useful. I’m trying to keep track of what is happening in Indian Cinema and I noticed that in the FCCI/KPMG Report on Indian Media Industries published last week, Bengali films are showing signs of resurgence. However, I think that the export markets for Hindi Cinema seeming to be growing faster in East Asia than in Europe and North America. I wonder if this is reciprocal and you’ll start getting more Korean films in India?

You aren’t the first person who has found Climates less gripping than some of Ceylan’s other films – perhaps it’s because he stars in it with his wife? Three Monkeys is very good and given your interest in film noir, I’m sure that you will enjoy it.

Hi Roy, sorry for the delay in getting back to you. I watched Ceylan’s Once Upon a Time in Anatolia quite recently, and must say I was quite impressed with that as well. I’m yet to watch his Three Monkeys which received considerable accolades, though I’ve seen one of his lesser films, viz. Climate, which I’d found interesting if not a great film per se.

Yeah, I’ve been seeing a fair bit of European Arthouse Cinema at the moment. I was doing post-graduation which got over last month, and I’ll be going back to the corporate world in a couple of months – so I’m enjoying this interim transition period to the fullest with cinema.

Well, short film festivals do take place at the Nandan complex outside the Kolkata Film Festival from time to time, though not at a regular basis. They prefer to screen recently non-mainstream movies most of the time. Various short film fests are held by such institutions too like the Max Mueller Bhavan (Goethe Institut – the cultural wing of the German embassy), Alliance Francaise (the cultural wing of French embassy), etc. Also, regular film screenings are held by the various film clubs in the city (Eisenstein Cine Club, Cine Central, etc.), as well as by SRFTII (Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute of India).

Nice to know that you still remember the Nandan film complex from your visit to Calcutta. Sad that I wasn’t in the city at that time and so couldn’t meet up with you then.

Thanks, Shubhajit. Good to hear from you. The new film from Nuri Bilge Ceylan opens in the UK today and I hope to see it in a couple of weeks. From the trailer it looks as though there will be plenty of beautiful landscape compositions in CinemaScope.

I see that you are watching a fair bit of European Art Cinema at the moment. Do any of the recent European films show at the Nandan complex outside of the Kolkata Festival – or at any other screens in the city?