Celluloid India: The Many Worlds of Satyajit Ray

Satyajit Ray (1921-92) is one of India’s best-known film directors. His work has been exhibited, discussed, and celebrated all over the world. Ray ranks among the finest auteurs of the second half of the twentieth century. Audiences in the West are perhaps most familiar with the Apu trilogy (1955, 1956, 1959). But Ray’s oeuvre also includes children’s films, detective cinema, films based on Calcutta during the stormy sixties, and his adaptations of important works of Indian literature. This talk is a critical tribute that situates a remarkable filmmaker in his social, political, and cinematic context.