Imphal : The monthly film screening programme of the Film Society of Manipur, the third oldest film society in the North East India established in 1966 will resume from this month with the screening of Anik Dutta’s award winning Bengali film- Aparajito (2022) on April 27 Thursday at 4 pm at Tanthapolis, the newly constructed digital theatre at Lamphel. The event is organized in collaboration of the Federation of Film Societies of India and with the support from the management of the Tanthapolis.

The 133-minute feature film is based on the life of the iconic filmmaker Satyajit Ray and the interesting account of making Pather Panchali which has created a sensation in world cinema and won the best human document award in 1956 Cannes Film Festival. Jeetu Kamal plays the role of Aparajito Ray, Saayoni Ghosh as Bimala Ray, Paran Bandopadhyay as Chief Minister of West Bengal and Barun Chandra as Prime Minister of India. Renown Indian art critic Samik Bandyopadhyay who is very much familiar in Manipur is also in the film as special appearance.

Aparajito bagged the FIPRESCI International Critics Award at the 14th Bengaluru International Film Festival 2023. The international jury comprising of Manuel Halpern of Portugal, Sadia Khalid Reeti of Bangladesh and Latika Padgaonkar of India chose the film for the prestigious award.

The Jury in their citation said, “ Anik Dutta has captivated his audiences once again with Aparajito, his homage to Satyajit Ray. The film is beautifully structured around a single interview and visualizes the hurdles the maestro went through when filming his magnum opus Pather Panchali.

We are unanimously in favour of awarding this film for its mastery of the craft of storytelling through well rounded characters, bringing to life a piece of history that will forever be a source of pride for Indian cinema”.

In the 8th Ajanta-Ellora International Film Festival 2023, Aparajito received four awards namely Best Actor for Jeetu Kamal as Aparajito Ray, Best Music for Debojyoti Mishra, Best Sound for Tirthankar Mazumdar and Best Cinematographer for Supratim Bhol.

The film received the Special Jury Award at 2022 BRICS Film Festival. The film was screened in many international film festivals including Toronto International Film Festival and London India Film Festival. As usual, there will be a discussion session after the screening.

All the present and past members of Film Society of Manipur and those interested to be the member of the film society who are willing to attend the screening may send message to 9862821062 in advance on first come first basis for reservation of the seats.