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Uma Das Gupta, whose unforgettable portrayal of Durga in Pather Panchali (1955) cemented her place in the annals of Indian cinema, passed away on November 18, 2024. Her performance as the spirited yet vulnerable elder sister of Apu remains one of the most iconic in the history of Bengali films. Despite the immense recognition she gained for her role in Satyajit Ray’s masterpiece, Uma chose not to pursue acting, a decision that has intrigued many over the years. As we reflect on her extraordinary life, it becomes evident that her legacy extends far beyond her brief stint in the limelight, touching lives through her work in education, social causes, and her steadfast commitment to personal fulfillment.

The Early Success of Pather Panchali

Directed by the legendary Satyajit Ray, Pather Panchali was a groundbreaking film that introduced Indian cinema to the global stage. Uma Das Gupta, a young girl at the time, portrayed...

Is it wrong to say something good came out of fascism? Probably. And it should be noted that Venice International Film Festival’s founder, Guiseppe Volpi, though a leading figure within Italy’s National Fascist Party, did ultimately oppose Benito Mussolini‘s government and the country’s alliance with Germany and Adolf Hitler. Nonetheless, his legacy is tainted as a result of this association, even with his and his family’s massive contributions to cinema.

The Venice International Film Festival began in 1932 as a result of Italy’s growing appreciation and interest in film. The Floating City had already played host to an arts festival known as Venice Biennale since 1893, so this film section was tied in and quickly overshadowed all other showcases. The actual event is held on the island of Lido rather than in the city’s central hub. This location was chosen in order to increase tourism...

Anand Ekarshi’s Malayalam-language “Aattam” (“The Play”) was named best film on Friday at India’s National Film Awards. The film also won editing for Mahesh Bhuvanend and original screenplay for Ekarshi.

Sooraj R. Barjatya won best director for Bollywood film “Uunchai,” starring Amitabh Bachchan. Neena Gupta won supporting actress for the film.

Rishabh Shetty’s Kannada-language “Kantara” won the award for ‘best film providing wholesome entertainment,’ while Shetty also won best actor.

The best actress award was shared by Nithya Menen for Tamil-language “Thiruchitrambalam” and Manasi Parekh for Gujarati-language “Kutch Express.” “Thiruchitrambalam” also won the choreography award for Jani Master and Sathish Krishnan, while Niki Joshi won the costume designer award for “Kutch Express.”

Pawan Malhotra won supporting actor for Haryanvi film “Fouja,” which also won best debut director for Pramod Kumar and lyrics for Naushad Sadar Khan. Sreepath won the child actor award for Malayalam-language film “Malikappuram.”

Arpita Mukherjee and Rahul V.

Neorealism has always owed more to melodrama than some of its purveyors and admirers are willing to admit, but Satyajit Ray unreservedly acknowledged the influence of the latter in his Apu Trilogy. Starting with 1955’s Pather Panchali, his feature debut, Ray crafted a stark vision of India’s transition into the modern age that still offset its most unvarnished observations with a sense of poetry that lent classical grandeur to intimate storytelling.

When Apu’s father, Harihar (Kanu Banerjee), develops a high fever and perishes near the start of 1956’s Aparajito, Ray initially illuminates the banality of such a commonplace, senseless death by focusing on the priest’s ragged breathing and futile attempts to rally himself. When Harihar asks for some water from the Ganges, though, the adolescent Apu’s (Pinaki Sengupta) sprint to and from the river gives the film an operatic feel, culminating in a dying breath matched...

Like its predecessor, 2018's "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse," the 2023 follow-up "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" will cull comic book history for every possible iteration of the eponymous superhero, and force them to interact. In "Into," directors Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman had the Miles Morales Spider-Man (Shameik Moore) meeting and forming an unlikely bond with a middle-aged Peter Parker Spider-Man (Jake Johnson) when the latter passed into Miles' dimension. The two also teamed up with Spider-Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld), Spider-Ham (John Mulaney), Spider-Man Noir (Nicolas Cage), and an anime duo called Peni and Sp//dr (Kimiko Glenn). In a post-credits cookie, Miguel O'Hara, a.k.a. Spider-Man 2099 (Oscar Isaac), also appeared. Spider-Man 2099 will appear again.

Each of these characters has a precedent in "Spider-Man" comics. As will be proven in "Across" -- directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson -- those seven Spider-Beings are only a scratch on the surface.

The London Indian Film Festival (Liff), is back for its 13th year and we have a sneak peek into the exciting films that will be showcased at the prestigious festival! This year’s Liff spans 14 days from 23rd June – 6th July, screening in various cinemas across London as well as regionally in Manchester, Birmingham, and Leeds. Plus the BFI Player will host a selection of short films. Plus there will be films available at LoveLIFFatHome.com but more to come on that later.

As with every year, the festival strives to bring thought-provoking, unique viewpoints and outstanding independent films to audiences with the selection of films Liff brings to the screen. Not only featuring world premieres, and special screenings, Liff also features masterclasses and incredible Q&a events after the screenings. Liff brings an in-depth look into cinema.

Festival Director Cary Rajinder Sawhney MBE says, “We are delighted at the...

Anurag Kashyap’s “Dobaaraa” has been set as the opening night film of the London Indian Film Festival. Despite its name, the festival will play at venues across the U.K., and will present 24 features and 18 shorts.

“Dobaaraa” is a supernatural thriller that Liff describes as involving a young woman trapped between two lives in different decades. Kashyap has previously told Variety that “Dobaaraa” is a Hindi-language adaptation of Oriol Paulo’s 2018 Spanish-language film “Mirage.” It stars Taapsee Pannu, an actor known for her eclectic choice of projects.

In “Mirage,” a 12-year-old boy witnesses a death during a thunderstorm and is killed himself. Twenty-five years later the woman who moves into the same apartment is connected to the boy through a television set during a similar storm and has the opportunity to save his life.

“Dobaaraa” was produced by Shobha Kapoor and Ektaa R Kapoor, through Cult Movies, a new...

Filmmaker Anik Dutta, who has helmed ‘Aparajito’, which narrates the story of the struggles of Satyajit Ray during the making of his iconic film ‘Pather Panchali’, says that the process of revisiting the film and Ray’s oeuvre was like his personal route to self-discovery. Most of Ray’s films, because of their socio-political undertones, continue to […]...

Iwanami Hall, an iconic art-house cinema in Tokyo, has announced that it will close permanently from the end of July. It blamed the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The 200-seater single screen venue in the Jimbocho district opened in 1968 as a general cultural facility and became a movie theater in 1974.

The conversion to cinema was led by general manager Takano Etsuko and Kawakita Kashiko, one of the most important women in the history of Japanese cinema, who headed a management operation which called itself the “Equipe du Cinema” (French for cinema team). The name has since been adopted by Iwanami Hall’s customer loyalty program.

Kawakita, whose legacy continues to be honored at the Kawakita Memorial Film Institute, was a co-founder of film distributor Towa (later Toho-Towa). She was a pioneering film executive in the 1930s who got a taste for foreign cinema during several years living in Berlin and...

By Aryan Vyas

There’s no doubt that these are arduous times. And it’s during such challenging times that we resort to art that’s made to enrich the soul. As the new year is upon us, I revisited one of my top favorite films from the past year- Chaitanya Tamhane’s “The Disciple”. Soon upon rewatching, I was certain that it was one of the best character studies I had watched in a while. Luckily around the same time, as a tribute to 100 years of Satyajit Ray’s cinema, Amazon Prime started streaming a bunch of the legendary artist’s work on their platform. It didn’t take me long to realize that Ray’s 1958 film, “Jalsaghar (The Music Room)”, had become my favorite movie of his. What blew my mind further, is when I realized that Ray had made the film just after “Aparajito”, before he went...

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is honoring the centenary of cinema giant Satyajit Ray with a major two-part retrospective.

May 2, 2021 was the birth centenary of Ray, the Indian master who won an honorary Oscar in 1992, shortly before his death, and remains the country’s best known filmmaker internationally.

The first part of the retrospective, which is currently on and will continue till Dec. 29, focuses on the early part of Ray’s career from 1955 – 1969. After a career as a graphic designer, Ray became a director in his early thirties with the ground breaking “Pather Panchali” (1955), which together with “Aparajito” and “Apur Sansar”, forms the phenomenal Apu Trilogy that follows the titular protagonist from childhood to adulthood.

The retrospective includes the Academy Film Archive’s landmark restoration of the Apu Trilogy from camera negatives nearly lost in a fire.

The December screenings at the Museum focus on Ray’s prolific and prodigious 1960s output,...

India is celebrating the birth centenary of one of her greatest sons, Satyajit Ray, in a variety of ways.

Sunday, marks the centenary of Ray, the Indian master who won an honorary Oscar in 1992, shortly before his death, and remains the country’s best known filmmaker internationally.

Ray debuted with “Pather Panchali” (1955) the first part of the magisterial Apu Trilogy, which won best human document at Cannes. The Trilogy includes “Aparajito” (1956) and “Apur Sansar” (1959). Berlin was a particularly happy venue for him and he won top awards at the festival numerous times, for “Pather Panchali,” “Aparajito,” “Mahanagar” (1963), “Charulata” (1964), “Nayak” (1966) and “Ashani Sanket” (1973).

At Venice he won for “Aparajito” and “Seemabaddha” (1971), culminating in a career Golden Lion in 1982. He also won a British Institute Fellowship in 1983 to go with the London Film Festival’s Sutherland Trophy for “Apur Sansar.” In 1987, the government of France made Ray a Commander of the Legion of Honor.

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For those who collect Blu-rays and DVDs, one name stands above the rest: Criterion. With its impeccable eye for curation and excellent restorations and bonus features, the Criterion Collection has established itself as the definitive home video release company. The Criterion Collection is reserved for “important classic and contemporary films;” for directors, receiving that stamp of approval is almost as good as an Oscar. Criterion honors obscure foreign films and popular contemporary work with equal zeal; the only criteria is the brand’s high standards.

Many movie lovers outsource the legwork of collecting to Criterion, using their annual releases as a barometer of the films that are worth owning. Browsing the Criterion website...

ObituaryChatterjee was considered one of the first proponents of the naturalistic style of acting in Bengali cinema, a trademark of Satyajit Ray's movies.PTIImage: Wikimedia Commons/Biswarup GangulyHe was the actor who epitomised the best of world cinema, transcending the boundaries of country, state and language to give expression to Satyajit Ray's cinematic vision and get framed in celluloid greatness. But the legacy of Soumitra Chatterjee, who died on Sunday at the age of 85, is not limited to the Ray firmament, just as he was never only a Bengali star of Bengali cinema. The suave actor of the world, sometimes called last of the Mohicans and familiar to students of cinema anywhere in the globe, acted in 14 Ray films and over 300 others, gracefully transitioning into commercial cinema in a variety of roles. He made his presence felt on the stage too as actor, playwright and director. One of the...

Indian actor Soumitra Chatterjee, best known internationally for his long association with Oscar-winning filmmaker Satyajit Ray, died on Sunday in Kolkata after contracting coronavirus. He was 85.

Chatterjee was born in Calcutta in 1935. While at university he developed an interest in theater and was subsequently mentored by Sisir Bhaduri, a doyen in the field. He pursued an acting career in cinema while working as an announcer with All India Radio.

Chatterjee’s film debut, “The World of Apu,” (1959) was the third part of Ray’s celebrated Apu Trilogy that began with Cannes-winner “Pather Panchali” in 1955 and continued with Venice-winner “Aparajito” in 1956. The film began a fruitful association with Ray over the years that included “The Goddess” (1960), “Three Daughters” (1961), “The Expedition” (1962), “Charulata” (1964), “Days and Nights in the Forest” (1970), “Distant Thunder” (1973), “The Golden Fortress” (1974), “The Elephant God” (1979), “The Home and the World” (1984) and “Branches of the Tree” (1990).

Chatterjee also worked with the other greats of Bengali-language cinema,...

This week’s episode of the Casual Cinecast returns to wrap up the Apu Trilogy with Criterion’s Apur Sansar, while also discussing The Cameraman and Inception. Mike, Chris, and Justin are back with another Casually Criterion chat as we go ahead and conclude the Apu Trilogy (check our previous episode on Pather Panchali and Aparajito) with […]

The post Casually Criterion Wraps Up a Trilogy and Discusses 10 Years of Inception appeared first on Cinelinx | Movies. Games. Geek Culture..

Justin, Mike, and Chris are up Schitt’s Creek this week as they discuss the Criterion release of Aparajito as well as talk about The Last of Us Part II. On the previous Casually Criterion episode, the Cinecast crew discussed Pather Panchali, so today seems like a great time to take a look at it’s sequel, […]

The post Casually Criterion Delves Into Aparajito, The Last of Us Part II, and More! appeared first on Cinelinx | Movies. Games. Geek Culture..

Ranjan Ghosh is an acclaimed Bengali scriptwriter and filmmaker, based in Kolkata, India. In 2011 Ranjan Ghosh co-authored the story and screenplay of “Iti Mrinalini”, a Bengali movie directed by noted director Aparna Sen. He started his career as a filmmaker in 2014 with critically acclaimed movie “Hrid Majhare”, inspired by Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’ and with elements of ‘Julius Caesar’ and ‘Macbeth’ in it. Screened at the New York University Tisch School of Arts in 2015, “Hrid Majharey” was included in their Ph.D. in Cinema Studies (Shakespeare and Indian Cinema). Also, the film and its screenplay were included in the Ugc Literature Archive through the Shakespeare in Bengal project conducted by Jadavpur University, Kolkata. Ghosh’s second movie “Rong Beronger Korhi” (2018) has a unique narrative where four stories are connected through one single thread- money. His latest movie “Ahaa Re” (2019) is critically acclaimed and a box-office success, is a portrayal of a...

For auteurists in New York there can hardly be a better series playing right now than "Trilogies" at Film Forum: a four-week extravaganza of 78 films comprising 26 mini director retrospectives from Angelopoulos to Wenders and 24 other auteurs in between. Many of the groupings in the series are actual sequential trilogies, like Kobayashi’s The Human Condition or Satyajit Ray’s Apu Trilogy, while others more loosely stretch the term, such as Lucrecia Martel’s "Salta Trilogy" or Hou Hsiao-hsien’s "Coming of Age Trilogy," very welcome though those are.Very few of the trilogies in the series, however, have posters that were conceived as trios themselves, the French posters for Kieslowski’s Three Colors, above, and Albert Dubout’s cartoony designs for Marcel Pagnol’s Marseilles Trilogy being the major exceptions. There are two terrific matching posters by Jan Lenica for the first two films in Mark Donskoy's Maxim Gorky Trilogy,...

10. Agantuk

Ray’s last film , based on a short story “Atithi” written by him. The film defines the meaning and the value of relationship on the backdrop of an ever changing social spectrum and questions the effect of the huge technological growth on human civilization. Utpal Dutt gives a superlative performance as the protagonist.

9. Shatranj Ke Khilari

Ray’s one and only full length Hindi feature film, based on the short story of Munshi Premchand. The film is set on the back drop of Indian Rebellion of 1857 and features some terrific performances from the actors Amjad Khan and Sanjeev Kumar.

8. Nayak

“Nayak” is the story of a matinee idol and Ray’s attempt to reveal the darker elements of his mind in a long-distance train journey. Uttam Kumar and Sharmila Tagore give some brilliant performances in the movie.

7. Apur Sansar

The...

“Miss Lovely” was the independent film from India that competed in the Un Certain Regard section of Cannes Film Festival in 2012. 2013 was one of the best years of the Indian history of independent cinemas.Even though the Indian independent cinema collective has made its presence felt in the beginning of 2000 itself, they were made to stay away with bowed heads out of an imposed inferiority of untouchability. However , the decisions of the national film award juries of 2013 brought them to the front rows.That year, Anand Gandhi’s “Ship of Theseus” was selected as the best film and Ashim Ahluwalia’s “Miss Lovely” got the special jury award for best film. These two films respectively got the award for the best female actor in a supporting role and best production design also.

Other than the year 2015 , all years that followed also were that of the success stories of the independent cinemas.

This is definitely the time of year when film critic types (I’m sure you know who I mean) spend an inordinate amount of time leading up to awards season—and it all leads up to awards season, don’t it?—compiling lists and trying to convince anyone who will listen that it was a shitty year at the movies for anyone who liked something other than what they saw and liked. And ‘tis the season, or at least ‘thas (?) been in the recent past, for that most beloved of academic parlor games, bemoaning the death of cinema, which, if the sackcloth-and-ashes-clad among us are to be believed, is an increasingly detached and irrelevant art form in the process of being smothered under the wet, steaming blanket of American blockbuster-it is. And it’s going all malnourished from the siphoning off of all the talent back to TV, which, as everyone knows,...

“Songs Of Humanity”

By Raymond Benson

I’ll bet many of you cinephiles out there have heard of Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray’s acclaimed trilogy of films from the 1950s (Pather Panchali, aka Song of the Little Road, 1955; Aparajito, aka The Unvanquished, 1956; and Apur Sansar, aka The World of Apu, 1959), but have never actually seen them. Here is your chance to rectify that egregious error. Quite simply put, anyone interested in film history needs to have this trio of motion pictures under the belt.

Satyajit Ray, who received an Honorary Oscar for Lifetime Achievement in 1992, began his career as an illustrator of books. One of these was Pather Panchali, a classic of Bengali literature (1928) written by Bibhutibushan Bandyopadhyay, and its sequel, Aparajito (1932). They comprise the story of the growth of a boy from infancy to adulthood over the course of twenty-five years or so (from the 1910s to the 1930s...

Pather Panchali/Aparajito/Apur Sansar

Written and directed by Satyajit Ray

India, 1955/1956/1959

The Criterion Collection set of Satyajit Ray’s Apu trilogy has been one of the more eagerly anticipated releases in recent years. These masterworks of world cinema, widely acclaimed for decades, have been long overdue a much-deserved superior treatment on home video. Now though, benefitting from a 4K digital restoration by the Academy Film Archive and L’Immagine Ritrovata, and with a wealth of bonus features, these exceptional films are available in the superb presentation so many have been waiting for.

But to start at the source, such a treatment would not have been warranted in the first place were the films themselves not so remarkable, and that they most certainly are. As no less an authority than Akira Kurosawa puts it, “To have not seen the films of Ray is to have lived in the world without...

Dailies is a round-up of essential film writing, news bits, videos, and other highlights from across the Internet. If you’d like to submit a piece for consideration, get in touch with us in the comments below or on Twitter at @TheFilmStage.

Pedro Almodóvar explains why he changed the title of his next film from Silencio to Julieta (via THR), and see a new look above:

When we began with preproduction I found out that Martin Scorsese was going to shoot a film with the same title, but I didn’t mind because I thought that I would use the Spanish title, which sounds much different, in the markets. Scorcese and I have finished shooting our respective films and we know that we will coincide in theaters around the world next year around the same time. Additionally, the novel the film is based on by Shusaku Endo will be rereleased.

Read More: 10 Films That Should Be in the Criterion Collection After touring the country earlier this year courtesy of Janus Films, the 4k restoration of Satyajit Ray's acclaimed "The Apu Trilogy" is finally coming to the Criterion Collection this November. The trilogy, made up of "Pather Panchali" ("Sons of the Little Road"), "Aparajito" ("The Unvanquished") and "Apur Sansar" ("The World of Apu"), is famous for bringing India into the golden age of international arthouse cinema. Based on two books by Bibhutibhusan Banerjee, it follows a free-spirited child in rural Bengal who matures into an adolescent urban student and a sensitive man of the world. The Criterion release will include bonus interviews and audio recordings.  Joining Ray's masterpiece is Michael Haneke's "Code Unknown," starring Juliette Binoche. The film will be released in a new 2k print and have a ton of bonus features,...

While The Criterion Collection has other releases coming in November, let's just face it — Satyajit Ray's "The Apu Trilogy" is the centerpiece treat and crown jewel, so let's start there, shall we? Read More: The Essentials: Satyajit Ray's 'Apu' Trilogy Plus 3 Other Must-See Ray Films Available Now Yep, as long expected and wished for the, the boutique label is finally putting "Pather Panchali (Song of the Little Road)," "Aparajito (The Unvanquished)," and "Apur Sansar (The World of Apu)" into one must have set. These aren't just barebones releases: given spiffy 4K restorations, they come with extras (interviews, documentary excerpts, audio recordings) and basically anything and everything someone who has been waiting for these movies to get officially released stateside could want. It's the cinephile must-have holiday gift this year. Elsewhere, Michael Haneke's "Code Unknown" will mark his first entry into Criterion. The...

So here we are, smack dab in the middle of the dog days of summer (and if you don’t get that little saying, try lying out on the sidewalk in 100-degree heat for 15 minutes or so, like Fido does, and see if a light bulb doesn’t go off). The dogs are often howling in movie theaters too—at times it seems as though August has replaced January in the hearts of moviegoers as the dumping ground for pictures not really worthy of our attention (or a serious investment in the marketing department). Movies like Pixels and Fantastic Four have their perverse fascination—just how bad can they possibly be? Both were greeted with reviews so scathing and unyielding in their acidity that studio heads can only pray nothing in October, November or December will be perceived as worse, and I have to admit a certain curiosity. But that...

The Venice Film Festival has become one of the longest-running events on the festival circuit, its veteran status giving it a level of prestige that has only been heightened by the films that have screened at the event. Having first started in 1932, a number of movies that have gone on to be classics have won prizes at the festival, including Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon, Satyajit Ray’s Aparajito, and Alain Resnais’ Last Year at Marienbad. Interest in the festival’s lineup announcement has thus grown over the years, with many film fans curious to see what the organisers select to play at the event, due to its stature. The full lineup for the 2015 incarnation of the festival, the 72nd one in the festival’s history, has now been announced. The festival itself will run from September 2nd to the 12th, with a jury that includes Alfonso Cuarón, Nuri Bilge Ceylan,...

There is a pivotal moment in Satyajit Ray’s film Aparajito: Apu’s mother, Sarbajaya (Karuna Banerjee) descends a staircase, obviously torn by the decision she must make after the death of Apu’s father Harihar (Kanu Banerjee). Should she remain as the cook for the family she has been working for in Benares, happy with her work, even though this would mean taking Apu to Dewanpur? Or should she take up the offer of her uncle, to move to a house he has in the village of Mansapota, where she will at least be sure to be looked after? She pauses on the staircase long enough to watch Apu through a barred window, and it’s at this moment that she makes her decision.

This scene almost sums up everything about her role in Aparajito: the troubles of a mother, alone after the death of her husband,...

The Times of India today reported that Bengali filmmaker Q (Gandu, Tasher Desh) is preparing to play Satyajit Ray in a movie about the making of Ray's seminal work in Indian cinema, Pather Panchali. The film will center around Ray's struggle to get the film off the ground and will feature several other notable personalities from the era in supporting roles. This announcement comes hot on the heels of the brand new restoration of Ray's Apu Trilogy (Pather Panchali, Aparajito, and The World of Apu) currently making the art house rounds from Janus Films. There are no more internationally revered Indian films than this trilogy, so it is perfectly ripe for adaptation as a story.The film, which is as yet untitled, already has several other main...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Pather PanchaliMy memories of Satyajit Ray's work before this year are blurred—they come up but they don't come out concretely developed. They aren't stenciled into the cohesive aesthetic dominating my attitude toward art. The first is gooey and, not surprisingly, Oscarized. His supporters in Hollywood knew of his terminal illness and in 1992 he was awarded a lifetime achievement Oscar, “in recognition of his rare mastery of the art of motion pictures, and of his profound humanitarian outlook, which has had an indelible influence on filmmakers and audiences throughout the world,” a few weeks before his death. Speaking from his deathbed, it was one of the first videotaped acceptance speeches. A diminished man, Ray cradled the glistening award, as the producers cut away from Ray’s words for two close-ups of the little golden man. Nevertheless, Ray came off witty when recounting writing to Ginger Rodgers and Billy Wilder...

Janus Films is bringing new restorations of Satyajit Ray's Apu Trilogy—tag>Pather Panchali (1955), tag>Aparajito (1956) and tag>Apur Sansar (The World of Apu, 1959)—to New York's Film Forum for a three-week run, starting today. The Trilogy will then tour the States through September. In the New York Times, Andrew Robinson, the author of three books on Ray, tells the story of the films and their maker, how the young graphic designer found a mentor in tag>Jean Renoir and inspiration in tag>Vittorio De Sica’s tag>Bicycle Thieves before completing his debut. The support of tag>John Huston was instrumental in securing a run in New York, eventually leading to a watershed screening at Cannes. We're collecting fresh raves from the critics. » - David Hudson...

Janus Films is bringing new restorations of Satyajit Ray's Apu Trilogy—tag>Pather Panchali (1955), tag>Aparajito (1956) and tag>Apur Sansar (The World of Apu, 1959)—to New York's Film Forum for a three-week run, starting today. The Trilogy will then tour the States through September. In the New York Times, Andrew Robinson, the author of three books on Ray, tells the story of the films and their maker, how the young graphic designer found a mentor in tag>Jean Renoir and inspiration in tag>Vittorio De Sica’s tag>Bicycle Thieves before completing his debut. The support of tag>John Huston was instrumental in securing a run in New York, eventually leading to a watershed screening at Cannes. We're collecting fresh raves from the critics. » - David Hudson...

Marking the 60th anniversary of the release of Satyajit Ray’s iconic classic Pather Panchali, the fully restored films of The Apu Trilogy with English subtitles will be released in theaters for a limited time starting this Friday May 8 at Film Forum in New York City. A new behind-the-scenes video has premiered chronicling the once unthinkable restoration of the legendary trilogy whose negatives were thought to have been lost to fire.

Following an incredible seven-year restoration program, Janus Films proudly releases The Apu Trilogy in North American theaters beginning in New York followed by releases in several other major cities throughout May and June allowing film lovers of all generations to experience one of India’s greatest masterpieces on the big screen. Additional cities include Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Boston, Detroit, Houston and Vancouver.

These delicate masterworks – Pather Panchali (Song of the Little Road), Aparajito (The Unvanquished...

Pegged as a continuing series of important classic and contemporary films, The Criterion Collection curates, restores, and distributes a variety of movies old and new to avid film lovers like you and me. It's no secret the task of restoring older films is a difficult and painstaking one, but Criterion seems driven to make each film it puts out look as good as it possibly can, and based on the image above and the video below it seems the company has done just that with Satyajit Ray's revered trilogy of films known as The Apu Trilogy -- which comprises Pather Panchali (Song Of The Little Road), Aparajito (The Unvanquished) and Apur Sansar (The World Of Apu). What follows is a restoration trailer for the trilogy, which is set to hit select theaters in May and is presumed to make its official Criterion Collection home video debut later this year.

Janus Films is proud to announce today the release of glorious new 4k restorations of master filmmaker Satyajit Ray’s seminal The Apu Trilogy (with new subtitles). Frequently listed as one of the top accomplishments in the history of cinema, the trilogy helped bring India into the golden age of international art-house cinema – but this restoration was long thought to be impossible, after a fire severely damaged the original negatives in 1993. Whatever was left of the original negatives was salvaged by the Academy Film Archive and it wasn’t until the technology improved that this restoration was possible.

The three films – Pather Panchali (Song Of The Little Road), Aparajito (The Unvanquished) and Apur Sansar (The World Of Apu) – will begin a national re-release in New York City at Film Forum on Friday, May 8th and in Los Angeles at Landmark’s Nuart Theater on Friday, May 29th. The films will...

If you’ve never seen Satyajit Ray’s The Apu Trilogy, you’re missing out, but you’re not alone. The films have been highly rare, and the existing prints and DVD transfers have been in sorry disrepair. And yet Ray’s films, including Pather Panchali (Song of the Little Road), Aparajito (The Unvanquished) and Apur Sansar (The World of Apu), are considered some of the best of all time, or at the very least some of the best to ever come out of India. Don’t you love how we care for our cinematic history?

All three films, originally from the ’50s, have now been restored by The Criterion Collection, and Janus Films will distribute the trilogy in theaters across the country starting on May 8, where the films will premiere at New York’s Film Forum. Criterion had been working on this restoration of some of Ray’s severely...

When The Criterion Collection put out Satyajit Ray’s “The Music Room” on Blu-ray/DVD a few years ago, there was immediate speculation among fans as to when they would get around to “The Apu Trilogy.” Sure, Satyajit Ray may have made twenty-eight films over the course of his career, but it’s his “Apu Trilogy” that’s widely considered to be his most seminal work. Well, it turns out Ray’s trilogy has recently undergone a very lengthy restoration process, and now Janus Films (Criterion Collection’s partner-in-crime) apparently have much bigger plans for “The Apu Trilogy” than just releasing them all on home video. If you are one of the lucky peeps who lives in one of the cities listed below, you will get a chance to catch “Pather Panchali,” “Aparajito,” and “Apur Sansar” on the big screen this year. The trilogy will premiere at New York City...

Read More: Is It the Best or the Worst Time for Film Restoration? Janus Films has announced it will release a brand new 4k restoration of master filmmaker Satyajit Ray's seminal "The Apu Trilogy," complete with new subtitles, this summer. The trilogy, made up of "Pather Panchali" ("Sons of the Little Road"), "Aparajito" ("The Unvanquished") and "Apur Sansar" ("The World of Apu"),  is famous for bringing India into the golden age of international arthouse cinema. Based on two books by Bibhutibhusan Banerjee, "The Apu Trilogy" follows a free-spirited child in rural Bengal who matures into an adolescent urban student and finally a sensitive man of the world. The films, shot over the course of five years and featuring different actors playing the maturing Apu, are essential works for any film lover.  The restoration is rather remarkable considering a fire severely damaged the...

Janus Films will release new 4K restorations of Satyajit Ray’s seminal The Apu Trilogy with new subtitles.

The company will re-release the trilogy in New York City at Film Forum on May 8 and in Los Angeles at Landmark’s Nuart Theater on May 29 prior to a summer-long rollout in the nation’s art-house theatres.

The Apu Trilogy is based on books by Bibhutibhusan Banerjee and follows a free-spirited child in rural Bengal who matures into an adolescent urban student and finally a sensitive man of the world.

The films helped bring India into the golden age of international art-house cinema and prompted Akira Kurosawa to say, “Never having seen a Satyajit Ray film is like never having seen the sun or moon.”

Restoration work was deemed impossible after a fire damaged the original negatives in 1993.

The Academy Film Archive salvaged the remains and waited until technological advances allowed it to restore the films.

The Archive...

One of the most talked about, yet infrequently seen film trilogies of all time has to be Satyajit Ray's The Apu Trilogy -- Pather Panchali (Song Of The Little Road), Aparajito (The Unvanquished) and Apur Sansar (The World Of Apu). You can find poor quality versions on YouTube and purchase shoddy DVD copies on Amazon and eBay, but soon these classics will be available in newly minted restored versions as Janus Film announced today the upcoming $K restoration of all three films will be begin a national re-release in New York City at Film Forum on Friday, May 8 and in Los Angeles at Landmark's Nuart Theater on Friday, May 29, followed by releases in art houses nationwide throughout the summer. Frequently listed as one of the top accomplishments in the history of cinema, the trilogy helped bring India into the golden age of international art-house cinema - but this restoration...

The picture above was posted to the Criterion Collection Facebook page with the caption "A 35mm negative gets the white glove treatment in Italy," and as many of the commenters have already noted, the film that's getting the delicate treatment is Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali (1955), the first film in Ray's "Apu Trilogy" along with Aparajito (1956) and Apur Sansar (1959). The trilogy is considered by many to be one of the best of all-time and Roger Ebert included the collective trilogy as one of his "Great Movies" entries opening his review with: The great, sad, gentle sweep of "The Apu Trilogy" remains in the mind of the moviegoer as a promise of what film can be. Standing above fashion, it creates a world so convincing that it becomes, for a time, another life we might have lived. The three films, which were made in India by Satyajit Ray between 1950 and...

A portrait of Satyajit Ray by Rishiraj Sahoo | Source: Wikimedia commons

Let’s start to play a game here – What is common between the 9 Bengali films listed below:

1 – Antaheen (2009, dir: Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury) advertised that this was the first film after Satyajit Ray’s Aranyer Din Ratri where Aparna Sen and Sharmila Tagore acted together. It went further stating that even the Ray masterpiece didn’t have the two pitted against each other in the same frame as this film did.

2 – Abar Aranye (2003, dir: Goutam Ghose) took three of the four characters of Aranyer Din Ratri to the forest of Dooars on a sequel train at a time when the DVD, CD version of the Ray original was not readily available.

3 – Aborto (2013, dir: Arindam Sil) flaunts that all the characters of the film have the same names as the different major characters in the master’s film oeuvre.

4 – Charulata 2011 (2012, dir:...

It’s a confusing time to be a cinephile. Some mournfully toll the death knell of the medium, with the near-total cessation of celluloid projection a symbolic end-point. Others insist that the prospects for audio-visual expression have never been brighter. They point to a vast array of new platforms and settings: whether in gallery-based video installations, high-end television series, or global video-sharing websites such as YouTube. But what of the once-cherished act of seeing a feature film with an audience in a theater? Many think it will go the way of opera. Yet alongside the digital enormities of the multiplex, formally and thematically challenging work continues to be made and shown on the festival circuit and elsewhere. Spectators may be overwhelmed by the all-access buffet of content now open to them, but they also have unrivaled opportunities to immerse themselves in the 119-year history of the medium.

A similar state...

The 24th edition of the biennial Europalia International Arts Festival in Europe will be dedicated to India to celebrate the centenary year of Indian cinema.

The festival will be held in several cities of Belgium and The Netherlands including Brussels, Antwerpen and Den Haag from October 4, 2013 – January 26, 2014.

Five of Kashyap’s films will be screened under the Anurag Kashyap Focus – Cinematek section: Ugly (2013), Black Friday (2004), Dev D (2009), Gulal (2009) and Gangs of Wasseypur I and II (2012). Besides, three films recommended by Kashyap will also be screened at the festival: Gurvinder Singh’s Anhey Ghorey Da Daan, Hansal Mehta’s Shahid and Satish Manwar’s Gabhricha Paus.

Pather Panchali, Aparajito, Apur Sansar and Jalsaghar will be presented as part of the Satyajit Ray Retrospective. Guru Dutt Retrospective will screen his films Baazi, Jaal, Baaz, Aar Paar, Mr. And Mrs. 55, Pyaasa, Sahib Biwi aur Ghulam and Kagaz Ke Phool.

Filmmakers Anurag Kashyap, Vikas Bahl...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will hold special screening of Satyajit Ray’s Apu Trilogy using new prints of the films preserved by the Academy Film Archive.

Actress Sharmila Tagore (Apur Sansar) and Dilip Basu, Founding Director of the Satyajit Ray Film and Study Center collection at the University of California will be present as special guests for the screenings.

Pather Panchali and Aparajito will be screened on September 6 while Apur Sansar will be screened on September 9 at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Satyajit Ray received an Honorary Award from the Academy in 1992 “in recognition of his rare mastery of the art of motion pictures, and of his profound humanitarian outlook, which has had an indelible influence on filmmakers and audiences throughout the world.”

The Academy Film Archive’s Satyajit Ray Preservation Project is an ongoing effort to preserve and restore Ray’s entire filmography. It began in...

BFI London is about to begin a two month long Satyajit Ray season. Starting on the 14th of August 2013, Dr Manishita Dass of Royal Holloway will host an introductory talk that will not only discuss Ray’s films but ‘explore the lesser-known links between his filmmaking and his career as a writer and a commercial artist’ (BFI).

Born in 1921, Calcutta, Ray is regarded as one of the most prolific film makers of the world. He achieved numerous awards, including the Bharat Ratna , the highest civilian award from the Indian Government, an honorary doctorate by Oxford University and 32 National Film Awards by the Government of India. His very first film Pather Panchali alone won 11 international awards.

Part one of the season will screen some of Ray’s spectacular films such as Pather Panchali, Aparajito and Devi. To find out more on the schedule please visit:

https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online...

The British Film Institute (BFI) is hosting a special two-month Satyajit Ray season, the first of which will be held in August. Ray’s films will be screened throughout the month in London, in association with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Ray received an Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement-just before his death in Calcutta-in 1992.

The films to be screened as part of Ray season in August are Pather Panchali, Aparajito, Mahanagar, Jalsaghar, Apur Sansar, Devi, Teen Kanya, Charulata, Kanchenjungha, Nayak, Kapurush, Chiriakhana, Abhijan and Parash Pathar.

Two documentaries directed by Ray– commemorating writer, artist and composer Rabindranath Tagore and Satyajit Ray’s father Sukumar Ray will also be screened.

A Masterclass will be conducted on Pather Panchali by filmmaker and teacher Mamoun Hassan, who headed the BFI in 1970s.

As reported earlier, BFI will also release Ray’s Mahanagar to mark the 50th anniversary of the film.

May 3, 1913 went down in history as the release date of the first Indian film Raja Harishchandra by Dadasaheb Phalke. Exactly 100 years later releases a documentary Celluloid Man by Shivendra Singh Dungarpur that leads us to the man responsible for finding and preserving whatever remained of India’s first film and the films that were made thereafter. The man who gave us our cinematic history by building the National Film Archive. DearCinema.com reproduces a detailed interview with P.K Nair. This interview was recorded in Pune in 2008 for Asian Film Foundation to mark his felicitation with Satyajit Ray Memorial Award.

What memories do you have of watching your first film?

It was in the early forties, at the height of war. I must have been hardly eight years old.

The venue: a Tent Cinema in Thiruvnanthapuram Putharikandam Maidan, almost the same venue of the present Padmanabha Theatre. Nearly half the...