School of Education (SOE) Auditorium
May 2nd – 7th
The University of the West Indies Film Programme collaborates with the High Commission of India and the Mahatma Gandhi Institute for Cultural Co-operation to host the Tagore Film Festival. The 2012 staging of the festival is meant to celebrate the 150th birthday of Asia’s first Nobel Laureate, Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941). The festival will take place during the first week in May at The UWI’s School of Education (SOE) Auditorium.
The festival will feature a retrospective of Indian films based on novels written by Tagore. Among these are adaptations of his most popular works, by renowned Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray, including Charulata, Kabuliwala, Khudito Pashan, Teen Kanyan and Char Adhyay.
On this occasion Tagore’s work will be celebrated worldwide, an effort by the Indian government to raise global awareness of this crucial figure in Indian history and culture. Rabindranath Tagore was a Bengali whose knowledge and expertise spanned various disciplines. In 1913, he became the first non-European to win the Nobel Peace Prize for Literature. He was also involved in music, poetry and the establishment of the Visva-Bharati University. Tagore modernised Bengali art by spurning rigid classical forms and resisting linguistic strictures.
Charulata, which was released in 1964, won the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 15th Berlin International Festival in 1965. It also won the Golden Lotus Award for Best Film at the National Film Awards in the same year. Kabuliwala received the National Film Award for Best Film in 1957 and the Silver Bear Extraordinary Prize of the Jury at the 7th Berlin International Film Festival.
Commenting on the upcoming festival, Dr. Christopher Meir, the Coordinator of the Film Programme, said, “This will be a great opportunity for the campus community and members of the public to learn more about the great achievements of Rabindranath Tagore and various Indian film-makers. We are honoured to be able to co-host this series with the Indian High Commission.”
The films will be screened in the SOE Auditorium on May 2nd and 3rd and May 5th, 6th and 7th, with each film starting promptly at 5.30 pm. The screenings are free of charge and open to the public.
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