IIFA Special: Satyajit Ray workshop
As part of the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Weekend, a workshop was organised at the National Media Museum in Bradford on Friday, which focussed on the legendary Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray.
The event, organised jointly by IIFA and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), focussed on the finer nuances of Indian cinema and was chaired by well-known director Deepa Mehta, celebrated Indian filmmaker Rituparno Ghosh and Cary Sawhney, a leading British Asian film curator.
Ray, who made his directorial debut in 1955 with the cult Pather Panchali, has made some of the most memorable movies Indian cinema has produced. He is the only Indian filmmaker to have received an Honorary Oscar. Critics dubbed his death in 1992 as the end of an era for the Indian film industry.
“To call Satyajit Ray a cinematic genius is an understatement,” Rituparno Ghosh said. “He was a visionary who had the power to make pictures come alive. His films are not only inspirational but also technically superior.”
Ray’s critically acclaimed film Mahanagar, winner of the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 1964, was also screened at the end the workshop and was appreciated widely by the attendees.
Deepa Mehta, who’s Water was shortlisted for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Film category, remarked, “Even though filmmaking has evolved greatly over the years, the basics have not changed and that is precisely what Satyajit Ray used creatively in his films. He created brilliance out of basics.”
“For me as a filmmaker, the BAFTA-IIFA Film Workshop was not just a platform to explain my art but also to learn a lot more from others present there,” Mehta added.
The workshop provided opportunities to filmmakers and students to interact with the icons of the film industry and discuss international cinema.
