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Illuminating the Bengali Renaissance

Two-day symposium focuses on works of Rabindranath Tagore, Satyajit Ray

EVANSTON, Ill. --- A two-day symposium Thursday, April 5, and Friday, April 6, about the Bengali Renaissance will put a spotlight on the works of Nobel Prize-winning Bengali writer Rabindranath Tagore and famed Bengali filmmaker Satyajit Ray. Ray, whose film work is simultaneously cinematic and literary, has included adaptations of Tagore’s poetry.

The Consul General of India, the Honorable Mrs. Mutka Dutta Tomar, will open the symposium, which will feature Bengali Renaissance scholars from across the country and a keynote address by film director Shyam Benegal. Benegal in 2007 was awarded Indian cinema’s highest award for lifetime achievement. 

Free screenings of two Tagore/Ray films -- “The Home and the World” (1984) and “The Lonely Wife” (1964) -- will be shown at 7:30 p.m. April 5 and at 7 pm. April 6, respectively.

The event celebrates the 150th anniversary of Tagore and India’s first Nobel Laureate. It is organized by the School of Communication’s Center for Global Culture and Communication and co-sponsored by Air India, the Sinha Kikeri Foundation and Northwestern University’s Block Cinema. 

For a full schedule of events, visit http://www.communication.northwestern.edu/global_communication/.