Satyajit Ray's Aranyer Din Ratri to be screened in classics section at Cannes Film Festival
A 4K restored version of master filmmaker Satyajit Ray's 1970 film Aranyer Din Ratri will be screened at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival under the Classics section, the organisers said on Thursday.
(Also read: Interview: Aditya Vikram Sengupta reveals why Mayanagar took so long to release, if there is a Satyajit Ray connect)
Based on the novel of the same name by author Sunil Gangopadhyay, the Bengali-language film, titled Days and Nights in the Forest in English, featured an ensemble cast of Soumitra Chatterjee, Subhendu Chatterjee, Samit Bhanja, Robi Ghosh, Aparna Sen, Sharmila Tagore and Simi Garewal. The movie, which explored themes of alienation, class, and modernity, followed the story of four city-bred men who escape to the forests of Palamau for a carefree holiday, only to undergo a journey of self-discovery.
Aranyer Din Ratri is presented and restored by The Film Foundation's World Cinema Project at L'Immagine Ritrovata in collaboration with the Film Heritage Foundation (FHF), Janus Films, and the Criterion Collection. The funding was provided by the Golden Globe Foundation, a press release issued by the festival organisers said.
The 4K restoration was completed using the original camera and sound negative preserved by producer Purnima Dutta, who will attend the screening along with Sharmila, Margaret Bodde, executive director of The Film Foundation, and FHF founder Shivendra Singh Dungarpur.
The premiere of Aranyer Din Ratri will be presented by renowned Hollywood filmmaker Wes Anderson, a self-professed and long-time admirer of Ray.
"Anything signed by Satyajit Ray must be cherished and preserved; but the nearly-forgotten 'Days and Nights in the Forest' is a special/particular gem... Made in 1970. Modern and novelistic. Ray worked in terrain perhaps more familiar to Cassavetes.
"A clash/negotiation between castes and sexes. Urbans and rurals. Selfish men and their hopes and cruelties and spectacular lack of wisdom. Women who see through them. The great Soumitra Chatterjee: lost but searching. The great Sharmila Tagore: mysterious, cerebral, mesmerizing. From the master, another masterpiece," Wes said, as quoted by the FHF.
Aranyer Din Ratri had its world premiere at the 20th Berlin International Film Festival, where it was nominated for the top prize of Golden Bear for Best Film.
The Cannes Classics section will also screen Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush to celebrate the movie's centenary year. The film gala will also showcase Alejandro G Inárritu's Amores Perros to mark its 25th anniversary as well as Edward Yang's Yi Yi (2000), John Woo's Hard Boiled (1992), and Sri Lankan filmmaker Sumitra Peries' Gehenu Lamai (1978), and Marcel Pagnol's Merlusse (1935).
Last year, the 4K restored version of Shyam Benegal's Manthan (1976) was screened in the same section at the prestigious gala.
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