Satyajit Ray: Essays (1970-2005)
By-
Gaston Roberge
The
essays offered here were written between 1970 and 2005. Teaching assignments,
requests for articles, and the author’s own evolving interests prompted them.
They were not written with the view to form a book. They are now published
together in the conviction that, both singly and as a whole, they can
contribute to a better appreciation of Satyajit Ray’s legacy.
The
essays deal with Ray as a filmmaker. The date on which each essay was written
is indicated as it situates each in the cultural context in which it was
conceived.
Out
of the twenty-nine feature films of Ray, only eight, plus the Apu Trilogy
as a whole, are discussed. Moreover, this small collection is not a selection,
indicaing preferences; nor is it a classification, rating the films.
The
discussion of Jana Aranya is the only essay that was written for this
book to illuminate the evolution that took place from the first to the last
film of Satyajit Ray. In order to preserve their historical value, generally,
the essays were not updated.
Given
Ray’s deep involvement in film education, especially in the film societies
movement in India, it was felt mandatory to include two articles on the
subject, one discusing the situation of the film societies today, and the
other, inspired by Satyajit Ray, and proposing a programme of media education
for a new type of film society.
Gaston
Roberge,
MA, Theatre Art (Film), University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), was
born in Montrel, Canada, in 1935. He came to India in 1961, and since then has
lived
in Kolkata.
in Kolkata.
He
is a Jesuit, teaching Mass Communication and Film Studies at St. Xavier’s
College, Kolkata. In 1970, with the assistance of the late Satyajit Ray, he
founded a media centre in Kolkata, called Chitrabani. In 1985, he started the
Education Media Research Center of St. Xavier’s College.
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