The fourth annual Tampa International Film Festival will run February 3-11, 2006 at Sunrise Cinemas and the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI). A major retrospective of the Indian master filmmaker Buddhadeb Dasgupta will be presented at the Festival, along with his most recent feature Kaalpurush (Memories in the Mist). Dasgupta is a well-known Bengali director, writer and producer. He will attend the Festival and introduce his films.

Award-winning Canadian director Bernard Émond will attend the closing night of the Festival and will introduce his film La Neuvaine (The Novena).

The Tampa International Film Festival continues to present the best of international cinema and will screen major films from China, India, Spain, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Argentina, Peru and Canada.

In addition, the Education Channel will program and sponsor a sidebar on American independent cinema. This is the first time that the Festival has programmed American independent films.

“I believe the films that we have this year represent a truly exciting and unique opportunity to experience the rich cultural heritage of world cinema,” said Dr. Rob Tregenza, founder and director of the Festival. “In our fourth year we have gained increased international attention and this has greatly added to our ability to program the best cinema for a new world.”

The Festival, which has run in April in years past, takes its new February time slot in response to a survey of the Tampa Bay area film-going community, who indicated that February would be an ideal festival time.