description: India's preeminent film director, Satyajit Ray (1921-1992) came to public attention in 1955 with Pather Panchali , the first installment of what became known as the Apu trilogy. It was the motion picture that introduced Indian cinema to the West. Initially critics considered Ray a poetic chronicler of Bengali village life, but soon he showed himself adept at making movies that incorporate contemporary urban life ( Branches of the Tree ), Indian history ( The Lonely Wife ), comedy ( The Philosopher's Stone ), musical fantasy ( Kingdom of Diamonds ), children's subjects ( The Golden Fortress ), and even documentary elements ( Rabindranath Tagore ). Satyajit Interviews reveals a genial, generous, unpre-tentious, immensely knowledgeable man who, for all his fame, remained to the end amusedly indifferent to movie-world glamour. Scripting, casting, directing, music-scoring, camera-operating, working closely on art direction and editing, even designing his own credit titles and publicity material--Ray did it all almost from the start of his career. His films come close to being wholly personal expressions yet achieve a global resonance. Bert Cardullo is professor of American culture and literature at Ege University in Izmir, Turkey. He lives on the island of Chios.
language: English
title: Satyajit Ray: Interviews
titlecomplete: Satyajit Ray: Interviews (Conversations With Filmmakers Series)
genres: Film
ratings_count: 17
publisher: University Press of Mississippi