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Geneva Art Film Club - Pather Panchali by Satyajit Ray
 
Geneva Art Film Club - Pather Panchali by Satyajit Ray Picture
Wednesday, May 17th, 2017 @ 18:30
MLC Cafe-Librairie, Rue de Carouge 98, 1205, Geneva, Geneva
 
Please note that the date of this event has changed from Tuesday 16th to Wednesday 17th - my sincere apologies if this affects your plans to come and see the film.

Please also note the earlier start time of this event (6.30) due to the length of the film.

"The story seems superficially insubstantial. A small boy, Apu (Subir Bannergee), is living with his impoverished Brahmin family in rural west Bengal. His father, a priest lost in dreams of writing plays and poetry, is so weak he won't even ask his employer for his back-pay. His mother (the marvellous Karuna Bannerjee) is mired in daily tasks – looking after Apu and his sister Durga, struggling with the demands of her ageing sister-in-law and her impractical husband.

It's a film that blindsides the viewer by showing a child's perspective on the world: it is Apu and Durga's perspective on a train passing by, their discovery of their aunt's body or their excitement at the sound of the sweet-seller's bells that captivate us jaded adults. This is the first of a trilogy in which Apu leaves childish things behind and goes into a world every bit as confounding as the one his father could not master.

It was the birth of a cinema, certainly the birth of a new kind of Indian cinema. On the first day of the shoot, the director had never directed, the cameraman had never shot a scene, the children in the leading roles hadn't been tested and the soundtrack was composed by a then obscure sitarist (the great Ravi Shankar). Perhaps this inexperience gave everyone involved the freedom to create something new. Certainly director Satyajit Ray and cinematographer Subrata Mitra showed a miraculous gift for lighting scenes, coaxing intimate and utterly convincing performances from children and other non-professional actors, and allowing narrative to grow seamlessly – just as happened in the best of the films by Ray's western mentor, Jean Renoir."

Stuart Jeffries, The Guardian

Try and make it to the MLC Librairie Café for 6.30 to get a drink and have a chat, then we'll have a brief introduction to the director and film, and start the film promptly shortly after 6.45, with time afterwards to discuss. Please do try to be on time out of respect for others watching the film.

As usual, this event is free and the film will be shown in the original version with English subtitles; it is helpful to Francis, whose premises we are using, if you buy a drink.
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