The Hindu : National : Kolkata prepares to celebrate Mother Teresa's birth centenary

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Kolkata prepares to celebrate Mother Teresa's birth centenary

Ananya Dutta

A series of events has been lined up for the next three weeks

— PHOTO: PTI

A vendor sells photographs of Mother Teresa on the street during the birth centenary week of the Nobel laureate in Kolkata on Wednesday.

KOLKATA: A series of events, including film festivals, painting exhibitions, special mass, symposiums, and a quiz has been lined up for the next three weeks for celebrating the birth centenary of Mother Teresa commencing on Thursday.

Special prayers, offered at the headquarters of the Missionaries of Charity and presided over by Cardinal Telesphore Toppo on Thursday morning, will begin the festivities. This will be followed by the inauguration of the third edition of the Mother Teresa International Film Festival, said Eugene Gonsalves, one of the organisers.

Films from all over the world will be screened at the Festival, which will travel to 12 other cities in India and later to Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. Several filmmakers from across the world will also be present during the four-day-long festival.

“The film I made on Mother Teresa was one of the most important I have made so far, so I had to come here for the centenary celebrations,” said Pierre Belanger, the director of “The Making of a Saint,” a documentary on the Beatification of Mother Teresa.

The celebrations are being organised by the Archdiocese of Calcutta and the Missionaries of Charity, along with other organisations.

President Pratibha Patil will release a commemorative Rs. 5 coin in New Delhi on August 28, Mr. Gonsalves said.Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee will inaugurate “Mother Express,” a special train, that will spread the message of the life of Mother Teresa. It will travel to several places across the country for the next six months.

An exhibition of photographs and paintings on Mother Teresa will be inaugurated by West Bengal Governor M. K. Narayanan on Friday.

A cultural programme and quiz, to be hosted by quizmaster Derek O'Brien, have been planned.

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