>SdkbBot at 07:47, 30 June 2021

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{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=August 2018}}
{{Infobox organization |name =Calcutta Film Society
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|motto = |formation = 5 October 1947
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|purpose = [[film society]]
|location = B-5, Bharat Bhavan 3, [[Chittaranjan Avenue]], [[Kolkata]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.penrose-press.com/idd/SOC16165.card# |title=Calcutta Film Society |access-date=18 September 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715063358/http://www.penrose-press.com/idd/SOC16165.card# |archive-date=15 July 2011 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref>
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|affiliations = [[Federation of Film Societies of India]]<ref>[http://www.ffsi.org.in/e_region_societies.htm Eastern Region : List of Societies] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721180423/http://www.ffsi.org.in/e_region_societies.htm |date=2011-07-21 }} [[Federation of Film Societies of India]] website.</ref>
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'''Calcutta Film Society''' was [[India]]’s second [[film society]] in the city of [[Kolkata]] (then Calcutta), [[West Bengal]], [[India]]. It was founded in 1947, just after independence, by [[Satyajit Ray]], [[Chidananda Dasgupta]], RP Gupta, [[Bansi Chandragupta]], [[Harisadhan Dasgupta]] and others. The 1925 silent film directed by [[Sergei Eisenstein]], ''[[The Battleship Potemkin]]'' was the first film screened at the film society,<ref>[http://www.satyajitray.org/bio/film_society.htm Calcutta Film Society] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131125231037/http://www.satyajitray.org/bio/film_society.htm |date=25 November 2013 }} [[Satyajit Ray]] website.</ref> which over the years developed the reputation of having the "most cine-literate audiences in the country".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/the-film-fan-frat/406877/|title=The film fan frat|date=4 September 2010|work=Business Standard}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/1080525/jsp/calcutta/story_9316488.jsp|title=The End|date=25 May 2008|first=Malini|last=Banerjee|newspaper=The Telegraph|accessdate=2 August 2018}}</ref> It was revived in 1956 with the efforts of stalwarts like Dasgupta, [[Vijaya Mulay]], [[Diptendu Pramanick]] and Satyajit Ray.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Cherian|first1=VK|title=India’s Film Society Movement: The Journey and its Impact|date=2016|publisher=Sage Publications India Pvt Ltd|page=264|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iytwDQAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=India%27s+Film+Society+Movement+cherian&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj3tuKn6-vhAhXLV30KHV8JCdcQ6AEIKjAA#v=onepage&q=pramanick&f=false|accessdate=25 April 2019}}</ref>
[[File:CFS revival-1956.jpg|thumb|CFS revival at Kolkata 1956.jpg]]

Today it is seen as an important harbinger of New Wave cinema in India, as it allowed first hand access to world cinema to local viewers and in time started the film society movement in India.<ref>{{cite book|last=Armes|first=Roy |title=Third World film making and the West|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qFDnqIwdr8EC&pg=PA118&dq=Calcutta+Film+Society&cd=7#v=onepage&q=Calcutta%20Film%20Society&f=false|year=1987|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=0-520-05690-6|pages=118, 123}}</ref>

==History==
Although a film society was formed by documentary filmmakers in Bombay in 1942, this was the first film society dedicated to feature films. Satyajit Ray then a young aspiring film maker provided film books and magazines, while [[Chidananda Dasgupta]] offer a room in his home for the meetings. And despite tough censorship policies, under the "Indian Cinematograph Act 1918" of the [[British Raj]], which still in enforced censorship rule to all gathering for cinema viewing, they survived low membership during the first five years viewing mainly Russian and European films. The society also started a bulletin designed by Ray, and several of his article were later published in the book, ''[[Our Films, Their Films]]'' (1972). Noted film personalities were invited to speak at the society which they did on several occasions, including Russian actor, [[Nikolay Konstantinovich Cherkasov|Nikolay Cherkasov]], directors [[Jean Renoir]], [[John Huston]]. Ray later recounted his meeting with Renoir as an important turning point in shaping his cinematic vision of his first film, ''[[Pather Panchali]]'' which he explained to Renoir when he was visiting India to look for locations for his film ''[[The River (1951 film)|The River]]'', in which Ray assisted Renoir.<ref>{{cite book|last=Robinson|first=Andrew |title=Satyajit Ray: the inner eye|url=https://archive.org/details/satyajitrayinner00robi_0|url-access=registration|quote=Calcutta Film Society.|year=1989|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=0-520-06946-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/satyajitrayinner00robi_0/page/65 65]}}</ref>

In the following years, when the first [[International Film Festival of India]] was organized in 1952, the society was extensively consulted for the films to be invited to the festival. The festival according to film historian, [[Jerzy Toeplitz]] became a turning point in the history of [[Indian cinema]] as it was first time, Indian audience had access to [[Italian neorealism]] as well as new Japanese cinema.<ref>{{cite book|last=Binford|first=Mira Reym |title=Media policy as a catalyst to creativity: the role of government in the development of India's new cinema|year=1983|publisher=University of Wisconsin--Madison|page=72}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Culture of Kolkata]]
[[Category:Film organisations in India]]
[[Category:Arts organizations established in 1947]]
[[Category:Organisations based in Kolkata]]
[[Category:Cinema of Bengal]]
[[Category:1947 establishments in West Bengal]]

Calcutta Film Society - Revision history

>SdkbBot at 07:47, 30 June 2021