Click to play videoNew York: While organizations in the US are working hard to preserve Satyajit Ray's legacy, support from the filmmaker's homeland has been less forthcoming. An ongoing film festival of Satyajit Ray films brings the issue in focus.
A two-week long festival of Satyajit Ray films started in New York on April 15. Organized by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, the event will showcase over 20 films from the first half of Ray's career.
Director of Programming, Film Society of Lincoln Center Richard Pena said, “From the late 50s through the mid 70s, Satyajit Ray was a familiar fixture in American art houses when there was a much more active art cinema scene in the United States. Many of his films had commercial release and were very much appreciated at the time. So in a sense, Ray is kind of like an old friend you haven't seen in a long time.”
Six of these 20 films are new 35mm prints from the Academy Film Archive in Hollywood that's been restoring Ray's works in collaboration with the Satyajit Ray Film and Study Collection of the University of California. But with little support from Indian government or film industry.
Satyajit Ray Film and Study Collection, Univ of California, Santa Cruz, professor Dilip Basu said, “I have been very closely dealing with the Indian government and leaders, they are always very supportive but we have not been able to get any funding from them. Our Calcutta film industry is very poor. Bombay is rich, a lot of Bombay actors are Satyajit Ray fans, I know that - like Amitabh Bachchan, I heard that Shah Rukh Khan also likes Ray films. But we have not so far made any effort or got any offer of support from Bombay.”
While, this festival features Ray's earlier films, from the Apu Trilogy to the Calcutta Trilogy, the Film Society of Lincoln Center hopes to showcase films from the second half of his career once their restoration is complete.
Lincoln Center will turn the spotlight on India again later this year. It's all set to host a retrospective of Guru Dutt in the fall.
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