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The Directorate of Film Festivals, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is organizing the next weekend film festival from April 22 to 24, 2005 at Siri Fort Auditorium-II, New Delhi. This is the fourth weekend film festival in the series. Five classics of Satyajit Ray would be screened during this film festival. The first was on K. L. Saigal, organized in April 2004, followed by films of Madhubala in August 2004 and Dev Anand in March 2005.
The present weekend film festival of Satyajit Ray coincides with the commemoration of 50 years of ‘Pather Panchali’, released in 1955. The five-film package of Ray includes the three-film trilogy – ‘Pather Panchali’, ‘Aparajito’ and ‘Apur Sansar’. The other two films in the package include ‘Charulata’ and ‘Pratidwandi’.
The Festival would be inaugurated tomorrow by Ms. Sharmila Tagore. The Union Minister of Information & Broadcasting and Culture, Shri S. Jaipal Reddy would also grace the occasion.
Ms. Sharmila Tagore began her career with Ray in ‘Apur Sansar’ in 1959. This was followed by ‘Devi’ in 1960 and other subsequent films like ‘Nayak’ (1966), ‘Aranyer Din Ratri’ (1970), and ‘SeemaBaddha’(1971) with Ray. She moved over to Hindi mainstream cinema and turned a major star with ‘Kashmir Ki Kali’. The great grand daughter of poet laureate Rabindranath Tagore, Sharmila won the Best Supporting Actress award this year, for her performance in Gautam Ghose’s film ‘Abar Aranaye’. She would be addressing the gathering and sharing experiences as an artiste with Satyajit Ray.
The concept of weekend film festival was introduced in order to promote awareness amongst the general public about the rich cinematic heritage in terms of film classics produced in India. The entry for the public to the screenings is free and on first come first served basis. All the three festivals organized so far have proved to be very popular, with the shows going house full.
This year, ‘Pather Panchali’ has been selected for honour as one of world’s greatest films on the 50th anniversary of its release, in 1955, at the Cannes International Film Festival. It will be screened on May 12, as the starting event at this year’s Cannes classic series.
NSD/AS
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