Indian Film Festival to Honor Film Director Satyajit Ray

HOUSTON: The Indian Film Festival of Houston (IFFH) has several surprises in store, according to Sutapa Ghosh, Founder and Executive Director of the city’s annual cultural event. Celebrating its fourteenth anniversary, it will highlight the seventy-fifth year of India’s Independence. Called Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, the country remembers the long struggle for freedom.

On August 15, 1947, the dream became a reality. Despite many struggles, and challenges, India has risen to become a modern nation, as well as one of the largest democracies in the world, and its economy continues to grow.

Indian talents such as Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore who was a poet, philosopher, composer, and painter became better known around the globe. This year, the festival will honor another multi-talented Indian, Satyajit Ray in the hundredth year of his birth. He is credited with bringing Indian Cinema to the world.  The first film that he directed, Pather Panchali, won worldwide acclaim and awards.  Throughout his career, he was feted from Berlin to Cannes, San Francisco to Tokyo, Acapulco to Auckland, and many places in between. Ray is generally acknowledged to be one of the greatest filmmakers in the world.  He often composed the score and wrote the lyrics in addition to writing the screenplays.

Houston audiences are in for a treat. On Saturday, October 15, 2022, they will see two of Ray’s feature films: Charulata (The Lonely Wife), and Shatranj Ke Khilari (The Chess Players). As in past years, the venue is the Asia Society Texas Center. Moodafaruka will provide the music, while the Veranda Restaurant will serve food.

Special plans are in effect for the IFFH fifteenth anniversary.  The date of the festival will move to February (23, 24, 25) starting in 2023.  The three-day event will feature shorts, documentaries, and feature films.  In addition, there will be entertainment, awards ceremony and a sit-down dinner.

Join us as we celebrate the world of Indian films. For more information, visit https://iffhinc.org.