Two legendary filmmakers – Istvan Szabo and Martin Scorsese — were conferred the Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Awards today at the opening ceremony of the 52nd International Film Festival of India at Goa today.
The Hollywood director Scorsese accepting the award through a video message said: “I am honoured to receive such an award named after one of the truly great filmmakers of all time and my inspiration, Satyajit Ray. I have returned to Ray’s work over and over again and every time I watch his movies, it becomes a whole new experience. Watching ‘Pather Panchali’ was a revelatory experience for me and it opened a whole new world for me.”
The director recalled and remembered the key elements in Ray’s films like intimacy, immediacy, tenderness and sensuality, all of which played crucial roles. In fact, he disclosed that the music of Ray’s films inspired him in the making of the music of his own films.
#IFFI52 honours Hollywood filmmaker Martin Scorsese with the #SatyajitRay Lifetime Achievement award
He has created masterpieces like Goodfellas, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Departed, Shutter Island, The World of the Wall Street #IFFI pic.twitter.com/AGZ8VxjpV7
— PIB India (@PIB_India) November 20, 2021
Scorsese said: “I showed Pather Panchali to my daughter at a young age, it has made a great impact on how she perceives the world and other cultures around the world.”
In his career spanning more than five decades, Scorsese has directed and produced many feature films, documentary films, shorts films, television shows and music videos. Considered as one of the best cinematic minds of the 21st Century, he is an institution in himself. His noted works include masterpieces like Goodfellas, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Departed, Shutter Island andThe World of the Wall Street.
The Hungarian filmmaker Szabo who was the other director to be conferred the Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award was recognised for his outstanding contribution to World cinema.
Szabo achieved international success with his film Mephisto in the year 1981 which has the distinction of being the first Hungarian film to have won an Oscar for the Best Foreign Language Film.
Hungarian filmmaker Istevan Szabo is honoured with #SatyajitRay Lifetime Achievement Award at #IFFI52
Watch a video on his works @IndiaInHungary @MEAIndia pic.twitter.com/hemqJhyCat
— PIB India (@PIB_India) November 20, 2021
Conveying his acceptance through a video message, Szabo said, “I am deeply moved to realize the fact that Indians know my films and some of them even love it.”
He went on to reminisce about his meeting with Ray, which took place more than 30 years ago in Chennai (then Madras). “Ray invited me and my wife for dinner, which was excellent. We had a fantastic discussion on his films and film-making, our profession. It was a profound discussion that I will never forget.”
He went on to add: “The radiant charismatic face of Ray and his spirit will be etched in my memory forever.”
