April 13, 2025 at 8:00:00 PM
AFS Cinema
Photo courtesy: Film Heritage Foundation
Indie Meme Special 10th Year
Retrospective Showcase
Puratawn (The Ancient)
India | Narrative Feature
2024 | 100 mins | Bengali
Recorded Q&A with writer-director Suman Ghosh
Limited tickets available on site.
Best Feature film- Washington DC South Asian Film Festival
Best Actress (Sharmila Tagore)- Washington DC South Asian Film Festival
Best Feature Film- Indian Film Festival at Houston
Rittika returns to her ancestral house with her husband Rajeev to celebrate her mother’s 80th birthday. After reaching her house she finds that her mother is not the same as she
had always believed her to be. Initially jolted with this realization, she slowly comes to terms with her condition and its irreversibility. Through her mother she comes to change her perspective on life and being. What seemed like an ostensibly routine and ritualistic event turns to a larger metaphysical enquiry into human existence and how the past dictates our current state. The film deftly braids in questions of failing memory, cherishing the past, a fear of obsolescence and reconciliation into a haunting, moving story that is at its heart about burying the ghosts of the past in order to make peace with what has happened so that one can move on.
Film Heritage Foundation used the best surviving elements for the restoration – the original camera negative and the 35 mm print preserved at the NFDC – NFAI. Unfortunately, the sound negative was not available. We digitized the sound from the 35 mm print preserved at Film Heritage Foundation. The film elements were repaired by the Film Heritage Foundation conservators and the scanning was done in Prasad Lab in Chennai We found that due to the deterioration of the print, there were vertical green lines on many parts of the film. While the scanning and digital clean-up was done at Prasad under the supervision of L’Immagine Ritrovata in Bologna, the grading, sound restoration and mastering was done at the lab in Bologna. Both Shyam Benegal and Govind Nihalani, the cinematographer of the film, have been involved in the restoration of the film.
Restoration Process
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Photo courtesy: Film Heritage Foundation
The screening will be preceded by a performance by Specific Thing.
Specific Thing is the project of local musician Román. Sometimes he plays by himself and sometimes he plays with his snazzy band — he loves to do both! And the music? It draws from folk, punk, pop, latin, communism, animals, friends... He likes to keep it cartoony, quick, and catchy. The band released an album in 2025 called "Now Is Actually Not A Good Time". Find more at @specificthing on Instagram.
Meet Specific Thing
About the Artist
Photo courtesy:
Film Heritage Foundation
Suman Ghosh is a National Award winning Indian filmmaker. He has made 9 feature films and 2 documentary films. He had his film training at Cornell University in New York. His first feature film "Footsteps" starring Soumitra Chatterjee and Nandita Das won 2 National Awards in 2008. It was shown at numerous film festivals including Vancouver, Karlovy Vary and IAAC New York. His second feature film "Dwando" also starring Soumitra Chatterjee, was a part of the Indian Panorama at IFFI Goa in 2009. His next feature film "Nobel Thief", starring the Indian megastar Mithun Chakraborty was world premiered at the Busan IFF and was an official selection at the BFI, London Film festival. The film received the "Best Indian Film"; award at the Bengaluru International Film Festival in 2012. His next feature film "Shyamal Uncle Turns off the Lights" has had a warm reception from critics and audiences all over the world. It was world premiered at the Busan Film Festival in South Korea and had its North American Premiere at the MoMA, NY. It won the "Outstanding International Feature Award"; at the ReelWorld Film festival in Toronto. It is being distributed in North America by Global Film Initiative. His next feature film "Kadambari" starring Konkona Sen Sharma and Parambrata Chatterjee. It is based on the life of Rabindranath Tagore and his controversial relationship with his sister-in-law Kadambari Devi. It was screened at several film festivals worldwide and received the Best Feature Film Award and the Best Actress for Konkona Sen Sharma at the Washington DC South Asian Film Festival in 2015. His next film “Peace Haven” world premiered at Busan IFF and was an official selection at MAMI and NYIFF. His debut Hindi feature film is titled “Aadhaar” which World premiered at the Busan IFF and is awaiting an all India release later this year. In 2023 he made the documentary on legendary film director and actress Aparna Sen titled “Parama: A Journey with Aparna Sen” which is scheduled to begin its festival journey later this year. In 2023 his film "Kabuliwala"was a major box office success in Bengal and also been to several top film festivals of the world including Shanghai Film Festival and Washington DC International Film Festival. His latest film "Puratawn" (The Ancient) is releasing in India on the 11th of April.
Photo courtesy: Film Heritage Foundation
Trailer
Credits
Director:
Suman Ghosh
Writer:
Suman Ghosh
Producers:
Rituparna Sengupta
Film Editor:
Aditya Vikram Sengupta
Sharmila Tagore
Rituparna Sengupta
Indraneil Sengupta
Restoration Effort Led By: Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, Director, Film Heritage Foundation
Restoration Credit:
Restored by Film Heritage Foundation in association with Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd.(Amul), the cinematographer Govind Nihalani and the director Shyam Benegal. Funding supported by Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd.(Amul)
Thank you to our community partners for this screening!
