Scorsese takes Ghatak to Cannes

Apart from Mrinal Sen’s Khandar,Ritwik Ghatak’s 1973 film Titash Ekti Nadir Naam (A River Named Titas) will be screened at the Cannes Film Festival today. The film,which was recently restored under the supervision of filmmaker Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Foundation (WCF),is being screened in the Classics Section of the festival.

Ghatak’s is one of few WCF-restored films being screened at Cannes. The other films include Luchino Visconti’s 1963 masterpiece Il Gattopardo (The Leopard),Egyptian filmmaker Shadi Abdel Salam’s The Eloquent Peasant and Hungarian master Andre de Toth’s Two Girls on the Street. “The restoration was done to preserve and disseminate film heritage from neglected countries,” says Cecilia Cenciarelli,spokesperson of the WCF. The restoration was carried out by Cineteca di Bologna,an Italian institution devoted to films,with the cooperation of Ghatak’s son Ritaban Ghatak and the Ritwik Memorial Trust. Scorsese is likely to be in India early next month to scout for more ravaged classics.