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The 4K restored version of the film, starring Soumitra Chatterjee, Rabi Ghosh, Pahari Sanyal and Sharmila Tagore will be screened under the Classics section.
The Cannes Film Festival 2025 will start from May 13. (Photo Credit: Instagram)
One of Satyajit Ray’s finest movies, Aranyer Din Ratri, will be screened at the Cannes Film Festival 2025. The 4K restored version of the film, starring Soumitra Chatterjee, Rabi Ghosh, Pahari Sanyal, Sharmila Tagore, and Simi Garewal, will be shown under the Classics section at Cannes. The 1970 film is based on author Sunil Gangopadhyay’s novel of the same name. The Bengali movie is titled Days and Nights in the Forest in English.
Satyajit Ray’s film, which examined issues of alienation, class, and modernity, revolves around four men who flee to the forests of Palamau for a relaxing vacation, only to go on a journey of self-discovery.
As per a PTI report, the Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project is restoring Aranyer Din Ratri at L’Immagine Ritrovata, in conjunction with the Film Heritage Foundation, Janus Films, and the Criterion Collection. The Golden Globe Foundation also provided funding.
Moreover, the report mentioned that the 4K restoration was accomplished using the original camera and sound negative maintained by producer Purnima Dutta, who will be present for the screening alongside Tagore, Margaret Bodde, executive director of The Film Foundation, and FHF founder Shivendra Singh Dungarpur.
The premiere of Aranyer Din Ratri will be hosted by famed Hollywood filmmaker Wes Anderson. Speaking to the Film Heritage Foundation, Wes Anderson said, “Anything signed by Satyajit Ray must be cherished and preserved; but the nearly-forgotten ‘Days and Nights in the Forest’ is a special/particular gem… Made in 1970. Modern and novelistic. Ray worked in terrain perhaps more familiar to Cassavetes.”
Aranyer Din Ratri made its global premiere at the 20th Berlin International Film Festival, where it was also nominated for the Golden Bear for Best Film.
Meanwhile, the Cannes Classics section will show Charlie Chaplin’s The Gold Rush to commemorate the film’s centenary year. The section will also feature Alejandro G Inárritu’s Amores Perros, Edward Yang’s Yi Yi, John Woo’s Hard Boiled, Sumitra Peries’ Gehenu Lamai, and Marcel Pagnol’s Merlusse. The 78th Annual Cannes Film Festival will take place from May 13 to May 24.
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