About

Not to have seen the cinema of Ray means existing in the world without seeing the sun or the moon.
– Akira Kurosawa

Bengali director Satyajit Ray (1921-1992) is one of the most influential and respected filmmakers of all time. He began his career with Pather Panchali (Song of the Little Road) 1955, the first film in what would become his celebrated coming of age Apu trilogy. Warmly received at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival, the film not only launched Ray's career but ushered in a golden age of Indian cinema for international audiences.

Known for his poetic realism and sensitive approach to storytelling, Ray's films reveal intimate stories about the human condition. His characters are shaped with a reality and universality that continue to be fresh to contemporary audiences and his films are an ongoing touchstone for Indian and international directors alike. A unique auteur, Ray was responsible for not just directing, but on a number of productions also contributed to the scripting, casting, scoring, cinematography, and worked closely on art direction and editing, titles and publicity material.

The Australian Cinémathèque will screen 18 films from Ray's filmography that have been preserved and restored by the Academy Film Archive at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The program also includes the 4K digital restorations of 'The Apu trilogy' made by Criterion in collaboration with the Academy Film Archive and L'Immagine Ritrovata. As the original negatives for these three films were burned in a fire, they have been meticulously reconstructed.

QAGOMA acknowledges the generous assistance of the Academy Film Archive at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for providing materials in this program.