Tradition updated. Tribute to Satyajit Ray showcase.

 

The National Cinema Museum is presenting the Tradition updated. Tribute to Satyajit Ray film showcase at the Cinema Massimo, from Tuesday 3 to Sunday 29 April 2018,.

 

It has been said that the meeting with Jean Renoir (in India to shoot The river) at first, and with Vittorio De Sica’s film Bicycle thieves afterwards, drove Satyajit Ray to become a filmmaker without further hesitations. The project for his first film Song of the road, welcomed with great interest at the Cannes festival (following its triumphant world premiere at the Moma in New York) was developed during this period. With his subsequent The unvanquished – the second episode of the so-called ‘Apu trilogy' – Ray won the Golden Lion in Venice in 1957, becoming the undisputed master of Indian cinema for everyone, garnering acclaim and awards film after film, up to his lifetime achievement Oscar in 1992. We are dedicating a tribute to him featuring recently restored titles.

 

The showcase will be inaugurated on Tuesday 3 April at 4.00 p.m., at the Cinema Massimo on Screen Three, by the film screening of Song of the road (India, 1955).

Admission 6.00/4.00/3.00 euro.

 

SCREENINGS CALENDAR

 

Song of the road (Pather Panchali)

(India 1955, 122, HD, b/w, o.v. it.s/t)

Little Apu witnesses the sad condition of his Bengalese Brahmin caste family, in the early Twentieth century. When his elder sister Durga dies, his father decides to move with the family to Benares. Made with few resources, Satyajit Ray’s debut was censored by the Indian government because it showed «exceedingly degraded poverty». Inspired by the novel Pather Panchali by his fellow countryman Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay.

Tue 3, Fri 6 and Sat 28, at 4.00 p.m.

 

The unvanquished (Aparajito)

(India 1956, 110’, HD, o.v. it.s/t)

The story of Apu, an Indian boy who would like to become a priest. When his father dies, he decides to go off to Calcutta, where he works, studies and manages to graduate at university. In the throes of his daily struggles he forgets about his mother, who is only living to see him back. And when he returns, it is too late.

Tue 3, Fri 6 and Sat 28, at 6.15 p.m.

 

The world of Apu (Apur sansār)

(India 1959, 105’, HD, b/w, o.v. it.s/t)

Apu, an ex student dreaming of a future as a writer, gets convinced by a friend to wed beautiful Aparna in a convenience marriage. The bridal couple is happy, until pregnant Aparna goes to give birth at her mother’s house and dies. Apu decides to meet his son Kajal only after five years.

Tue 4 and Sun 29, at 4.00 p.m.

 

The great city (Mahānagar)

(India 1963, 131’, HD, b/w, o.v. it.s/t)

Young bride Arati, the wife of bank clerk Subrata, decides to find herself a job in Calcutta to make the family’s difficult ends meet. She will have to fight against the prejudices and wishes of the men at home. Within the large city in the title, the film observes suburbs and outskirts, concentrating its attention on a lower middle-class family nucleus undergoing a crisis.

Wed 4, at 6.00 p.m./Tue 10, at 3.45 p.m.

 

The lonely wife (Chārulatā)

(India 1964, 117’, HD, b/w, o.v. it.s/t)

Charulata is married with Bhupati, the director of "The Sentinel” local liberal daily paper. Being aware of his wife’s unhappiness, who passes her time deep in reading, Bhupati hires her brother Umapada as administrator of the paper, and hosts him, together with his wife Manda, at his home in Calcutta.

Mon 9, at 4.00 p.m./Tue 10, at 6.15 p.m.

 

The holy man (Mahāpurush)

(India 1965, 65’, HD, b/w, o.v. it.s/t)

Gurupada is a lawyer who is restless after his wife’s death. Together with his daughter Birichi he meets an apparently ageless holy man, and they become his adepts. He tells tales of the past, about his dialogues with Plato, about how he taught Einstein the theory of relativity, or of his meetings with Jesus and Buddha.

Mon 9, at 6.15 p.m./Fri 13, at 4.00 p.m.

 

The coward (Kāpurush)

(India 1965, 74’, HD, b/w, o.v. it.s/t)

Amitabha is a scriptwriter from Calcutta. The man tours the city and its neighbourhood, gathering ideas for shooting a film. On reaching a small village, he accepts hospitality from a peasant due to a car breakdown. Here the scriptwriter meets the farmer’s wife and remains shocked on discovering that the woman is an ex lover of his. Amitabha tries to convince the woman to leave her husband.

Fri 13, at 5.30 p.m./Fri 27, at 4.30 p.m.

 

Nayak

(India 1966, 120’, HD, b/w, o.v. it.s/t)

The second original screenplay by Satyajit Ray, Nayak, recounting the story of a popular Indian actor, concentrating entirely on the psychology of the character, played by Uttam Kumar, an established star in Bengalese blockbuster cinema. The film is set on a train for 24 hours, which are necessary to the protagonist for travelling between Calcutta and New Delhi.

Wed 25, at 6.15 p.m./Sun 29, at 8.30 p.m.