The North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) announces the 2016 spring series of Friday night films, which focuses on work by Indian director Satyajit Ray and America’s Sidney Lumet. The series begins on April 15 with a screening of Ray’s Pather Panchali—hailed at the Cannes Film Festival as a masterpiece of humanist filmmaking—and continues with the two other films in Ray’s Apu Trilogy. On May 6, award-winning director Nancy Buirski brings By Sidney Lumet, a searing portrait lavishly illustrated with clips, to the Museum after triumphs in film festivals including Durham’s Full Frame and New York’s Tribeca. The series concludes May 13 with a screening of Lumet’s 12 Angry Men.
All films are shown in the Museum’s recently renovated SECU Auditorium. Popcorn, wine, beer, and other beverages and treats are available for purchase.
Pather Panchali (Song of the Little Road)
Friday, April 15, 8 pm
(1955) Directed by Satyajit Ray. Subir Banerjee, Kanu Banerjee, Karuna Banerjee. (125 min.) In Bengali with English subtitles. DCP restoration.
Little Apu grows up in rural Bengal, his life ruled by charismatic women, in a poetic film inspired by Italian neorealism. First in a trilogy.
Aparajito (The Unvanquished)
Friday, April 22, 8 pm
(1956) Directed by Satyajit Ray. Smaran Ghosal, Pinaki Sengupta, Kanu Banerjee. (109 min.) In Bengali with English subtitles. DCP restoration.
In the second film of the trilogy, Apu and his family move to the holy city of Benares (Varanasi) as Apu continues his academic and spiritual education in adolescence.
Apur Sansar (The World of Apu)
Friday, April 29, 8 pm
(1959) Directed by Satyajit Ray. Soumitra Chatterjee, Sharmila Tagore, Alok Chakraborty. (105 min.) In Bengali with English subtitles. DCP restoration.
In the third film of the trilogy, Apu has graduated from college, and he struggles to combine his life as husband and father with his aspirations of a writing career.
By Sidney Lumet
Friday, May 6, 8 pm
(2015) Directed by Nancy Buirski. (111 min.) R. DCP.
A wide-ranging conversation with the director, based on interviews three years before his death in 2011 and encompassing his career on stage, television, and screen. Lumet’s bedrock concerns with fairness and his celebration of rebel characters illuminated films like 12 Angry Men, Dog Day Afternoon, and Network.
Nancy Buirski introduces the film and holds a Q&A afterward.
12 Angry Men
Friday, May 13, 8 pm
(1957) Directed by Sidney Lumet. Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Martin Balsam. (96 min.) Blu-Ray.
Racial profiling and circumstantial evidence roil a boiling jury room full of stellar character actors. Is it an open-and-shut case or a railroad job? Reminders of the innocence protection afforded by the Constitution have never been more timely. Lumet’s first feature was bankrolled by screenwriter Reginald Rose and star Henry Fonda.
Tickets
$5 Members, youth 7–18, college students with ID
$7 All others
Advance tickets may be purchased at the Museum Box Office, online at ncartmuseum.org/tickets, or by phone at (919) 715-5923 during regular Museum hours. Many screenings sell out, so you are encouraged to purchase tickets in advance and arrive early to secure choice seating.