The season will open on the 18th of July with a special screening of Jean Renoir’s The River. The film will be preceded by an Odissi Dance Performance by Prachi Hota and Introduced by film curator Anupma Shanker. Odissi dance is one of the oldest forms of classical dance in India and Prachi started training in Odissi at the age of three in Kolkata.

Jean Renoir’s intoxicating first colour feature – shot entirely on location in India – is an adaptation of Rumer Godden’s autobiographical coming-of-age tale of an adolescent girl living with her English family on the banks of the Ganges during the waning years of British colonial life. Exquisitely shot in luminous Technicolor, The River is a visual tour de force and a glorious, meditative tribute to the sights and sounds of Indian culture. Perhaps Renoir’s most symbolic and spiritual film, displaying great humanity and refreshing simplicity, The River received tremendous international acclaim and remains one of his most popular films.