With the COVID-19 pandemic still raging on, the authorities of 26th Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) are yet to decide whether the annual carnival of world and regional movies to be held in November will offer physical screenings or digital ones. Preparatory work such as the selection of films in different sections are going on but it is not clear how the situation will unfold in November, a senior festival organising committee member told PTI on Wednesday.

KIFF is slated to be held between November 5 and 12. “We will strictly go by the advisories of the Union health ministry and the state government as the COVID-19 situation has not abated in the country. One thing is for sure that the 26th KIFF will take place.

“However, whether it will be held in physical format or any other format will be decided later. The situation is still fluid,” the organising committee member said. The state government, in consultation with all stakeholders including members of the film fraternity and international film bodies, will declare the format at an appropriate time, he said.

Physical screenings in a restrained manner were organised in the Shanghai International Film Festival and the Venice Film Festival in July and earlier this month respectively. “But the pandemic is abating in those two places. The situation is not the same here presently,” he said.