F.i.g.h.t C.l.u.b

(from official release)

Satyajit Ray: The 21^st Century Man

As part of the centenary year of cinema in India celebrations, the Directorate of Film Festivals, Satyajit Ray Society and Lightcube Film Society are working together to organise a Retrospective of the director responsible for more masterpieces than any other great in Indian cinema; illustrator, painter, visualiser, author, musician, photographer, film society activist and filmmaker, Satyajit Ray.

For long, Satyajit Ray’s been thought of as being symbolic of the ‘alternative’, or ‘the other’ – the notion that despite the existence of the bludgeoning mainstream industries across the country exercise almost vulgar control over markets and minds alike, there is still the possibility that a figure like Ray may exist and make films that resemble personal visions over forty years. In that, the existence of Satyajit Ray has throughout been of a figure who existed in spite of the system, instead of because of it – this evaluation of him as an artist whose being is carved out primarily through opposition or perversion is, however, terribly reductive and unmindful of the fact that after all, Ray films made not against someone, but in favour of the medium he so loved. To highlight Ray’s status as a cineaste and film-lover over his status as a ‘parallel filmmaker’, the Directorate of Film Festivals, Satyajit Ray Society and Lightcube Film Society are collaborating to organise a three-day long Retrospective of his work at Sirifort Auditorium, this runs from the 26^th April to 28^th April 2013.

– The Retrospective will feature both Satyajit Ray’s long-form work and his shorts, alongwith Mr. Shyam Benegal’s 1984 documentary on him, entitled Ray (this film opens the Retrospective).

– The vision behind the programming of the festival, where all films will be exhibited on 35mm, is to represent as a whole Ray’s career – both in terms of its various phases (from the autobiographical musings of the first era, to the politically charged films of the middle and his assimilation into the larger culture of the world in the final) and the various ideas contained within it.

– These films will be discussed at length in panel discussions that will feature close associates of Satyajit Ray, colleagues and members of the Ray Society who have worked actively for the past twenty years to preserve Ray’s artistic legacy.

– The screenings at the Retrospective will also be accompanied by an exhaustive exhibition which will have on display a  wide selection from Ray’s numerous artistic work, such as ad-artworks, book jacket designs, posters, booklets, set and costume  designs, sketches from shooting scripts, as also still photographs of people and places.

– The Retrospective runs as part of the Centenary year of Indian Cinema celebrations organised by the Directorate of Film Festivals.

DATE : 26^th to 28^th April 2013

VENUE : Sirifort Auditorium, New Delhi

ENTRY : Free

SCHEDULE :

Friday, 26 April 2013

2 pm: Satyajit Ray / Shyam Benegal

4:45 pm: Pather Panchali

Saturday, 27 April 2013

11 am: Jalsaghar

1.30 pm: Charulata

4 pm: Pratidwandi

7.30 pm – 8.30 pm: Dhritiman Chaterji, in a Q/A session with members of the audience; moderated by Shantanu Ray Choudhury.

Sunday, 28 April 2013

11 am: Rabindranath Tagore, Sadgati and Pikoo’s Diary

1:30 pm: Sonar Kella

3:45 pm: A multimedia presentation tracing the etymology/origins of Feluda, the character.

4 pm: Ghare Baire

6:25 pm: Panel Discussion: ‘On Ray’s Oeuvre’ featuring Mr. Dhritiman Chatterjee, Mr. Shantanu Ray Choudhury and Ms. Swati Joshi.

– For inquiries, call: 011-7838340196, write to lightcubefilmsociety@gmail.com | satyajitraysociety@gmail.com