Pather Panchali

The second half of the 20th century saw a rise in global cinema, as countries embraced the medium to tell their stories. One new voice was the Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray, who debuted in 1955 with Pather Panchali, a story depicting the lives of a poor rural family just as the country begins to modernize. Among the indelible scenes in this visually poetic neo-realist-influenced feature is that of the young boy, Apu, running through a field of grain to catch a glimpse of a train. Ray would follow Apu’s journey with two more films, a.k.a. The Apu Trilogy, but you can catch the first chapter tonight at Pittsburgh Filmmaker’s Regent Square Theater. -Al Hoff