Pather Panchali (in English: Song of the Little Road) directed by Satyajit Ray and produced by the Government of West Bengal, India. Pather Panchali is described as a turning point in Indian cinema, as it was among the films that pioneered the Parallel Cinema movement, which espoused authenticity and social realism. The first film from independent India to attract major international critical attention, it won India's National Film Award for Best Feature Film in 1955, the Best Human Document award at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival, and several other awards, establishing Ray as a distinguished filmmaker. It features in several lists of great films.
Paul Reynolds guest blogs about it . Read on.
Pather Panchali,
or the Song of the Little Road, was a film created in 1955. Bengali was the
primary language of the film and it is 115 minutes in length. This movie was
created by Satyajit Ray and was inspired by the novel “Pather Panchali” by
Bibhutibhushan Banerjee. Government of West Bengal assisted the production of
the film. Cinematography was overseen by Subrata Mitra, Editing was done by
Dulal Dutta, Art Direction was done by Bansi Chandragupta and Sound Production
was done by Bhupen Ghosh. The soundtrack of the film was composed by Pandit
Ravi Shankar. The movie won Best Human Document. Cannes award and Diploma of
Merit, Edinburgh in 1956. It was the initial phase of struggles for Satyajit
Ray and he had to wait for two years to find a producer for the movie.