Satyajit Ray’s landmark film “Aranyer Din Ratri” (Days and Nights in the Forest) restored by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project in collaboration with Film Heritage Foundation, Janus Films, and the Criterion Collection will have its world premiere at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival 2025.
The selection of “Aranyer Din Ratri” for the 78th Cannes Film Festival marks the fourth year in a row that Film Heritage Foundation is returning to Cannes Classic. Film Heritage Foundation’s earlier restorations – Aravindan Govindan’s “Thamp”, Aribam Syam Sharma’s “Ishanou” and Shyam Benegal’s “Manthan” had red-carpet world premieres at the Cannes Film Festival in 2022, 2023 and 2024.
Described by David Robinson, Financial Times critic as “Ray’s work at its best . . .”, the film is a magnificent exploration of the vicissitudes of urban youth played by four diverse young men whose arrogant attitude to women and callousness towards the tribals are exposed when they meet two young women from the city during their sojourn in the forest.
The film will be presented at the premiere in Cannes by Wes Anderson and lead actress Sharmila Tagore, producer Purnima Dutta, Margaret Bodde of The Film Foundation, Peter Becker and Fumiko Takagi of The Criterion Collection / Janus Films and Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, Director, Film Heritage Foundation.
REVIEWS AT THE TIME OF RELEASE:
Pauline Kael, Film Critic:
On the surface, this Satyajit Ray film is a lyrical romantic comedy about four educated young men from Calcutta, driving together for a few days in the country, and the women they meet. The subtext is perhaps the subtlest, most plangent study of the cultural tragedy of imperialism; the young men are self-parodies–clowns who ape the worst snobberies of the British. A major film by one of the great film artists, starring Soumitra Chatterjee and the incomparably graceful Sharmila Tagore.
David Robinson, Financial Times:
… every word and gesture is recognizable, comprehensible, true … Ray’s work at its best, like this, has an extraordinary rightness in every aspect of its selection and presentation – the timing, performance, cutting, music – which seem to place it beyond discussion.
SHIVENDRA SINGH DUNGARPUR
FILMMAKER, ARCHIVIST AND DIRECTOR, FILM HERITAGE FOUNDATION:
It was an incredible experience to work on the restoration of one of my favourite Satyajit Ray films – “Aranyer Din Ratri” (Days and Nights in the Forest) and see the beauty of the film come to life again after 56 years. From the title sequence, the haunting score, the chemistry of the four actors, the unforgettable grace and beauty of Sharmila Tagore, the way he captured the Santhal tribals, the iconic memory game sequence that has inspired generations of filmmakers . . . I went through the whole process beginning from the original camera negative to the final restoration.
THE RESTORATION PROCESS
At the suggestion of board member Wes Anderson, The Film Foundation (TFF) began exploring a restoration of DAYS AND NIGHTS IN THE FOREST in 2019. In collaboration with Shivendra Singh Dungarpur of Film Heritage Foundation (FHF), discussions began with the copyright holder Purnima Dutta to request permission to access the original camera and sound negatives and move forward with a restoration of the film. TFF also reached out to longtime partner Fumiko Takagi of Janus Films/Criterion Collection, who had met with Ms. Dutta in Kolkata back in 2013 about licensing this title.
Finally, the restoration moved forward in 2020. Although work was severely hindered by the pandemic, Shivendra was able to travel from Mumbai to Kolkata in the midst of the lockdown, to check the negatives and organize their transport to L’Immagine Ritrovata in Bologna for scanning and 4K digital restoration.
DAYS AND NIGHTS IN THE FOREST was restored in 4K at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory. The primary elements used for the restoration were the original camera and sound negatives preserved by Purnima Dutta of Piyali Films.
L’Immagine Ritrovata performed extensive digital restoration to mitigate dust, scratches, stains, instability, green mold, and flickering that were present in original camera negative.
The original sound negative varied in quality between reels and within reels. The audio restoration significantly improved problems present in the negative such as electrical and support noise and audio gaps. There were also several instances where the background noise would change—for instance in reel 4 the sound of cicadas would appear and disappear abruptly. Reels 9 through 12 were the most problematic and in this regard, the restoration successfully minimized these audio issues. The magnetic track preserved by the BFI National Archive was used to replace a small portion of the audio in Reel 2.
Shivendra Singh Dungarpur worked closely with L’Immagine Ritrovata on the restoration and English translation. He coordinated with the Dutta Family as well as Satyajit Ray’s son, Sandip Ray, who participated in work-in-progress and final reviews of the restoration.
All work has been approved by the Dutta Family and Sandip Ray.
The English subtitles were done by Indrani Mazumdar, a longtime collaborator of Satyajit Ray and the only person he trusted with English subtitles in his lifetime, who is also the translator of many of Ray’s Bengali books.
In conjunction with the restoration and with the support of TFF and FHF, Janus Films licensed DAYS AND NIGHTS IN THE FOREST for the US and UK to ensure the restoration is made available in its best possible quality for audiences.
RESTORATION CREDITS:
Restored by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project at L’Immagine Ritrovata in collaboration with Film Heritage Foundation, Janus Films, and the Criterion Collection. Funding provided by the Golden Globe Foundation. Special thanks to Wes Anderson.
4K restoration completed using the original camera and sound negative preserved by Purnima Dutta, and magnetic track preserved at the BFI National Archive. Special thanks to Sandip Ray.
SYNOPSIS: ARANYER DIN RATRI (DAYS AND NIGHTS IN THE FOREST, 1970)
In a work that confirms Satyajit Ray’s place amongst the masters of world cinema, Days and Nights in the Forest tells the tale of four brash young men from the city who set out on a lark to the forests of Jharkhand to escape their mundane urban lives, not realizing that it will challenge their views on life and love and blunt their confidence. The arrogant Asim is attracted to the cool and elegant Aparna who crushes his pride with ruthless subtlety. The shy and inhibited Sanjoy lacks the courage to respond to Jaya’s advances. The sportsman Hari tries to forget his heartbreak enamoured by a sensual tribal girl, while Shekhar, the joker of the group seems unperturbed by the underlying tensions and inner turmoil of his friends.
CAST AND CREW DETAILS
Aranyer Din Ratri (Days and Nights in the Forest), India, 1970, Satyajit Ray
115 mins, Black & White, Bengali, English Subtitles, Aspect Ratio 1.37:1
Direction: Satyajit Ray, Original Story by: Sunil Ganguly, Screenplay: Satyajit Ray, Cinematographer: Soumendu Roy, Editor: Dulal Dutta , Sound: Sujit Sarkar, Music: Satyajit Ray, Art Direction: Bansi Chandragupta, Production Control: Anil Choudhury, Producer: Nepal Dutta and Asim Dutta, Production House: Priya Films
Cast: Sharmila Tagore, Kaberi Bose, Simi Garewal, Soumitra Chatterjee, Shubhendu Chatterjee, Rabi Ghosh, Samit Bhanja, Pahari Sanyal, Premashish Sen, Samar Nag, Khairatilal Lahori, Master Dibyendu Chatterjee and Aparna Sen.
COLLABORATORS
THE FILM FOUNDATION’S WORLD CINEMA PROJECT
Created in 1990 by Martin Scorsese, The Film Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting and preserving motion picture history.
By working in partnership with archives and studios, the foundation has helped to restore over 1000 films, which are shared with the public through programming at festivals, museums, and educational institutions around the world. The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project has restored 58 films from 30 different countries representing the rich diversity of world cinema. In 2017, WCP partnered with FEPACI (the Pan African Federation of Filmmakers), UNESCO, and the Cineteca di Bologna to launch the African Film Heritage Project (AFHP), an initiative to locate, preserve, and disseminate African cinema. The foundation’s free educational program, The Story of Movies, teaches young people – over 10 million to date – about film language and history. The Film Foundation Restoration Screening Room presents monthly film restorations, free and accessible through any web browser. www.film-foundation.org
THE CRITERION COLLECTION
Since 1984, The Criterion Collection, an important series of classic and contemporary films, has been dedicated to gathering the greatest films from around the world and publishing them in editions that offer the highest technical quality and award-winning, original supplements. Criterion’s library of director-approved DVDs, Blu-Ray Discs and Laser Discs are the most significant archive of contemporary film-making available to the home viewer.
JANUS FILMS
Founded in 1956, Janus Films was the first theatrical distribution company dedicated to bringing international art-house films to U.S. audiences. Janus handles rights in all media to an extensive library that includes the work of Michelangelo Antonioni, Věra Chytilová, Sergei Eisenstein, Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini, Abbas Kiarostami, Akira Kurosawa, Ousmane Sembène, Andrei Tarkovsky, François Truffaut, Agnès Varda, and Yasujiro Ozu.
Janus handles rights in all media, and its library has grown to more than 1200 films.
