Satyajit Ray’s Pratidwandi and G Aravindan’s Thampu to be screened at Cannes 2022

The 75th edition of the Cannes Film Festival is set to take place from 17 to 28 May 2022.

The festival has announced the line-up of films in the Cannes Classics section. Satyajit Ray’s Pratidwandi (The Adversary, 1970) and G Aravindan’s Thampu (The Circus Tent, 1978) — the title of which has been stylized as Thamp̄ — are the Indian films that will be screened in this section.

India is the Country of Honour, and together with the US-based Film Foundation and the World Cinema Project, the festival will pay homage to Indian Cinema.

Pratidwandi is presented by the National Film Archive of India and has been restored under the National Film Heritage Mission, a project undertaken by the ministry of information and broadcasting. The restoration was carried out by Prime Focus Technologies, Mumbai and grading was supervised by Indian cinematographer Sudeep Chatterjee, according to the festival website.

Thampu is being presented and has been restored by the Film Heritage Foundation — a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to supporting the conservation, preservation and restoration of Indian cinema — in collaboration with the Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project, Cineteca di Bologna, Prasad Corporation's Post - Studios in Chennai and L’Immagine Ritrovata Laboratory and in association with General Pictures, National Film Archive of India and the family of Aravindan Govindan. The funding has been provided by Prasad Corporation and the Film Heritage Foundation.

Film Heritage Foundation shared a series of before and after images from the restoration of the film.

Superstar Amitabh Bachchan congratulated the restoration effort, writing, “So proud to hear that Film Heritage Foundation’s commitment in restoration the great master Aravindan’s “Thamp”(1978) is selected to premiere at Cannes Film Festival 2022! A great milestone in our journey to save India’s film heritage (sic).”