Oscar Academy to screen Satyajit Ray's Apu trilogy

New Delhi: To celebrate the restoration of 19 Satyajit Ray films, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will screen new prints of the filmmaker's renowned 'Apu Trilogy' next month in the US.

The two-evening screening series kicks off with a double feature of 1955's 'Pather Panchali' and 1956's 'Aparajito' on September 6 and concludes with 1959's 'Apur Sansar' on September 9 at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.

Special guests for the September 9 program include actress Sharmila Tagore, who made her debut in 'Apur Sansar', and Dilip Basu, founding director of the Satyajit Ray Film and Study Center Collection at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

The Academy has also partnered with the British Film Institute (BFI), the American Cinematheque and the Austrian Film Museum to screen prints from the Academy Film Archive's collection.

In London, the BFI Southbank will present 'Satyajit Ray' from August 14 through October 5.

In Los Angeles, the American Cinematheque at the Aero Theatre, in partnership with the Academy, will present 'Unlocking the Golden Fortress: Satyajit Ray Restored', from September 12 through October 21, featuring all 19 of the Ray

films that the Academy Film Archive has restored to date.

In Vienna, the Austrian Film Museum will present 'Satyajit Ray: Early Works' from December 4 through January 8, 2014.

More than 100 screenings will take place between the Academy's screenings and its partners' during the months-long celebration.

In 1992, after a career spanning more than three decades, Ray received an Honorary Award (an Oscar statuette) from the Academy "in recognition of his rare mastery of the art of motion pictures, and of his profound humanitarian outlook, which has had an indelible influence on filmmakers and audiences throughout the world".

The Apu Trilogy was restored by the Satyajit Ray Preservation Project through a collaboration of the Academy Film Archive, the Merchant and Ivory Foundation, and The Film Foundation.

The Academy Film Archive's Satyajit Ray Preservation Project is an ongoing effort to preserve and restore Ray's entire filmography. It began in 1992.