TIFF Bell Lightbox, The Sun And The Moon: The Films Of Satyajit Ray
Satyajit Ray was one of the most influential filmmakers that ever lived. He was an artist that worked internationally in countries that were undergoing a quickly shifting identity from colonial rule to independence. He never stuck to making the same kind of film more than once. He created films of many genres including dramas, musicals, comedies, satirical and psychological thrillers; Shakespearian stories family films, and political allegories that thrilled audiences.
Until his death in 1992, many contemporary filmmakers have found inspiration in his films including Martin Scorsese, Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, and countless others.
The Criterion Collection has released several of his films on disk for public viewing. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the US has been working hard since his death to restore and preserve many of Ray's increasingly rare films.
TIFF Bell Lightbox has kicked off the most comprehensive retrospective of Ray's work. The Sun and the Moon: The Films of Satyajit Ray is running now until August 17th. It is a series of over 20 programs featuring Ray's work and it includes some wonderful and extremely rare pictures that one may not be able to view again for decades. This comprehensive TIFF Cinematheque retrospective presents 34 titles, including:

Company Limited By Satyajit Ray
Three of Ray’s Monumental Trilogies:
The Apu Trilogy of Pather Panchali (1955), Aparajito (1957) and The World of Apu (1959), which established the lyrical visual and narrative style with which Ray became identified; the Calcutta Trilogy, comprised of the skeptical, satirical, and politically engaged films The Adversary (1970), Company Limited (1971) and The Middleman (1975); and The Final Trilogy of An Enemy of the People (1989), Branches of the Tree (1990) and The Stranger (1991).
The superb chamber drama Days and Nights in the Forest (1969); and 35mm restorations of Devi (1960), an intoxicating story about the conflict of old and new India as it is waged over the body and soul of a shy young bride; Charulata (1964), a moving examination of women's status in the colonial world of Victorian-era Bengal; and The Music Room (1958), one of Ray's most magnificently visual films.

Devi By Satyajit Ray
Along with the retrospective is Passages to India: India Seen by Outsiders, which is a proactive sidebar series running from July 5th to July 27th. This series surveys the work of eight European and American filmmakers whose outsider's visions of India range from meditative documentary to delirious Orientalist artifice.
Satyajit Ray Roundtables and Talks is an illuminating series of onstage events exploring Ray's contribution to cinema as well as the restoration of his works by the Academy Film Archive, and Western artists' engagement with India as part of the Passages to India series.
Many of Ray's films and events about the filmmaker have already been screened in the early weeks of July.
Those films include: Pather Panchali, Aparajito, The World of Apu, Days and Nights in the Forest, Kanchenjungha, Kathleen O'Connell on Charulata, Deliverance preceded by Pikoo, Mahanagar, Devi, and The inner Eye: Four Shorts by Satyajit Ray.

Elephant God By Satyajit Ray
The screenings for the next week are:
· Three Daughters introduced by Michael Pogorzelski on July 17th
· The Chess Players introduced by Michael Pogorzelski on July 18th
· The Elephant God on July 19th
· The Home and the World on July 20th.
For all the films and the screening times, visit TIFF.net
Featured Image: satyajitray.ucsc.edu