Bengali Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray (1921-1992) is widely regarded as one of the greatest filmmakers of the 20th century. Starting his career as a commercial artist, Ray was drawn into independent filmmaking after meeting French filmmaker Jean Renoir and viewing Vittorio De Sica’s Italian neorealist film Bicycle Thieves (1948) during a visit to London.
Ray directed 36 films, including features, documentaries, and shorts. He was also a fiction writer, music composer, graphic designer, and film critic. Ray’s first film, Pather Panchali (1955), won eleven international prizes, including the inaugural Best Human Document award at the Cannes Film Festival. Ray received many more major awards throughout his career, including 32 Indian National Film Awards and an Academy Honorary Award in 1992.
