Noticias

When Satyajit Ray’s 1970 film Aranyer Din Ratri (Days and Nights in the Forest) returned to Cannes this May, it was far from a faded relic. Restored by Shivendra Singh Dungarpur and the Film Heritage Foundation, the film, in ravishingly revived form, was selected for the prestigious Cannes Classics section as a testament to Ray’s enduring influence on world cinema through classics like 1955’s Panther Panchali, which is the first film in the director’s celebrated Apu Trilogy.

To mark the occasion, The Hollywood Reporter India spoke with three individuals deeply touched by the film and its creator: legendary Indian actress Sharmila Tagore, a frequent Ray collaborator; Wes Anderson, whose work bears Ray’s influence; and Dungarpur, whose archival work revived the film.

“I watched [Ray’s 1961 title] Teen Kanya first, just because it happened to be available in a video store in Texas,” Anderson recalls. “That’s how I became interested in his films.

Indian filmmaker Subhrajit Mitra’s latest venture “Bandit Queen of Bengal” (aka “Devi Chowdhurani”) will start principal photography in the final quarter of the year.

The film is based on Mitra’s own research into the the advent and invasion of the British East India Company in India, the battles of Plassey (1757) and Buxar (1764), the great Bengal famine of 1770, the Sannyasi and Fakir rebellion (1770-77) and Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s 1884 Bengali-language novel “Devi Chowdhurani,” which features a female freedom fighter protagonist.

The film will follow the journey of a villager who eventually becomes the first Indian woman freedom fighter. It will also tell the story of the Hindu monks who had no other option but to take up arms against their British colonial rulers to save the country and their people. It was the first armed revolution by the Indians, led by Bhavani Charan Pathak, against the British East India Company.

White NoiseCOMPETITIONWhite Noise (Noah Baumbach)Il Signore Delle Formiche (Gianni Amelio)The Whale (Darren Aronofsky)L’Immensita (Emanuele Crialese)Saint Omer (Alice Diop)Blonde (Andrew Dominik)Tár (Todd Field)Love Life (Koji Fukada)Bardo, False Chronicle Of A Handful Of Truths (Alejandro G. Inarritu)Athena (Romain Gavras)Bones & All (Luca Guadagnino)The Eternal Daughter (Joanna Hogg)Beyond The Wall (Vahid Jalilvand)The Banshees Of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh)Argentina, 1985 (Santiago Mitre)Chiara (Susanna Nicchiarelli)Monica (Andrea Pallaoro)No Bears (Jafar Panahi)All The Beauty And The Bloodshed (Laura Poitras)A Couple (Frederick Wiseman)The Son (Florian Zeller)Our Ties (Roschdy Zem)Other People’s Children (Rebecca Zlotowski)Out Of COMPETITIONFictionThe Hanging Sun (Francesco Carrozzini)When The Waves Are Gone (Lav Diaz)Living (Oliver Hermanus)Dead For A Dollar (Walter Hill)Call Of God (Kim Ki-duk)Dreamin’ Wild (Bill Pohlad)Master Gardener (Paul Schrader)Siccità (Paolo Virzi)Pearl (Ti West)Don’t Worry Darling...

While the summer movie season will kick off shortly––and we’ll be sharing a comprehensive preview on the arthouse, foreign, indie, and (few) studio films worth checking out––on the streaming side, The Criterion Channel and Mubi have unveiled their May 2021 lineups and there’s a treasure trove of highlights to dive into.

Timed with Satyajit Ray’s centenary, The Criterion Channel will have a retrospective of the Indian master, along with series on Gena Rowlands, Robert Ryan, Mitchell Leisen, Michael Almereyda, Josephine Decker, and more. In terms of recent releases, they’ll also feature Fire Will Come, The Booksellers, and the new restoration of Tom Noonan’s directorial debut What Happened Was….

On Mubi, in anticipation of Undine, they’ll feature two essential early features by Christian Petzold, Jerichow and The State That I Am In, along with his 1990 short documentary Süden. Also amongst the lineup is Sophy Romvari’s Still Processing,...

Satyajit Ray is broadly regarded as one of the greatest directors of all time, and his acclaims support the claim. His works are mostly based on the Bengali language movie industry in India. However, he made two movies in the Hindi language, both based on the works of the famed author Munshi Premchand. “Sadgati,” a TV movie, is often considered amongst Ray’s least impressive movies. His first movie in the Hindi language, nevertheless, is a different story. “The Chess Players” is often included in the conversation of the best Ray films and is frequently said to be one of the most calculated movies made by the director.

It is 1856. Nawab Wajid Ali Shah rules over Awadh, which, with the rapid decline of the Mughal Empire, is the sociocultural centre of the imperial culture. However, he is chained to the power of the East India Company, the...

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...

Before delving into Satyajit Ray’s Shatranj Ke Khilari (The Chess Players), bear with me for a bit as I talk about its setting, and raison d'être: Lucknow. “Not Rome, not Athens, not Constantinople, not any city I have ever seen appears to me so striking and beautiful as [Lucknow],” wrote Sir William Howard Russell, a reporter with The Times, when he was sent to the north Indian city around 1858.>> - Laya Maheshwari...

Before delving into Satyajit Ray’s Shatranj Ke Khilari (The Chess Players), bear with me for a bit as I talk about its setting, and raison d'être: Lucknow. “Not Rome, not Athens, not Constantinople, not any city I have ever seen appears to me so striking and beautiful as [Lucknow],” wrote Sir William Howard Russell, a reporter with The Times, when he was sent to the north Indian city around 1858.>> - Laya Maheshwari...

Still from Raja Harishchandra

The 19th Bradford International Film Festival will celebrate the centenary year of Indian Cinema with the screening of 12 Indian films. The festival will be held from April 11 – 21, 2013, across cities in the UK.

“100 years on, the 19th Bradford International Film Festival wishes Indian cinema a happy centenary by devoting a large chunk of our programming to this inexhaustibly fertile source of astonishing films,” said Tom Vincent and Neil Young, Co-Directors of the festival.

The festival has lined up a wide range of Indian films from Raja Harishchandra to Mumbai Cha Raja.

The line-up includes:

Dadasaheb Phalke’s Raja Harishchandra (1913),

Franz Osten’s India – UK – Germany production Prapancha Pash (1929),

Uday Shankar’s Kalpana (1948),

Mehboob Khan’s Mother India (1957) and Mughal-e-Azam (1957),

Satyajit Ray’s Shatranj Ke Khilari (1977),

Yash Chopra’s Silsila (1981),

Deepa Dhanraj’s Kya Hua Iss Shehar Ko? (1986),

Aditya Chopra’s Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (1995),

Sandeep Ray’s...

Satyajit Ray

From March 12-28, nine films of Satyajit Ray will be screened at the Cinematheque de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain. The retrospective programme includes the screening of Apu Trilogy (Pather Panchali, Aparajito, Apur Sansar), Charulata, Shatranj Ke Khilari, Jalsaghar, Sadgati, Bala, Mahanagar and Satyajit Ray, a biopic on Ray by Shyam Benegal.

Organized by the Filmoteca de Catalunya, a film archive in Spain, in collaboration with ImagineIndia and Directorate of Film Festivals of India, the sixteen day programme celebrates Ray’s depiction of “the modern ideals of a society, that was also a colonized country. A filmmaker (Ray) who should be visited from time to time so as to not lose sight of what is essential,” states the Filmoteca de Catalunya website.

14th Mumbai Film Festival (Mff) announced its complete lineup today in a press conference. Mff will be held from October 18th to 25th at the National Centre for the Performing Arts (Ncpa) and Inox, Nariman Point, Liberty Cinemas, Marine Lines as the main festival venues and Cinemax, Andheri and Cinemax Sion as the satellite venues. Click here to watch trailers and highlights from the festival.

Here is the complete list of films to be screened during the festival (October 18-25)

International Competition for the First Feature Films of Directors

1. From Tuesday To Tuesday (De Martes A Martes)

Dir.: Gustavo Fernandez Triviño (Argentina / 2012 / Col. / 111′)

2. The Last Elvis (El Último Elvis)

Dir.: Armando Bo (Argentina / 2012 / Col. / 91′)

3. The Sapphires

Dir.: Wayne Blair (Australia / 2012 / Col. / 103′)

4. The Wall (Die Wand)

Dir.: Julian Pölsler (Austria-Germany / 2012 / Col. / 108′)

5. Teddy Bear (10 timer til Paradis)

Dir.: Mads Matthiesen (Denmark / 2012 / Col. / 93′)

6. Augustine

Dir.: Alice Winccour (France / 2012 / Col.

Shammi Kapoor’s famous scarf from Junglee (1961), the sweater from Andaz (1971), the Shehnai from his last film appearance in Rockstar (2011) and one of his favorite personal Mont Blanc fountain pens will be part of the 1st Osian’s – Cinefan Auction of Indian Cinema Memorabilia.

The auction will begin on July 31 at the Imperial Hotel (New Delhi) as part of the 12th Osian’s-Cinefan Film Festival.

The last unreleased song by Kishore Kumar completed just three days before his demise will provide a unique opportunity for the film fraternity and the fans of Kishore Kumar to purchase the rights for this rare song.

Among the many other vintage highlights of the auction on offer are a rare album of 45 signed black and white photographic stills by the evergreen Dev Anand; rare costumes worn by Sanjeev Kumar & Amjad Khan from Shatranj ke Khilari from the Suresh Jindal collection; rare Satyajit Ray designed...