Wednesday, June 12, 9:00 a.m. | Renoir’s first feature film in color is a vibrant, visual tour de force (Martin Scorsese calls it one of the most beautiful color films ever made). Shot entirely in India, this coming-of-age tale, based on the 1946 novel by Rumer Godden, explores the perspective of young Harriet and the daily lives and dramas of her upper middle-class English family living on the banks of the Ganges River. Through her eyes—those of a Westerner, a colonizer, a child—and Renoir’s masterful, painterly compositions, THE RIVER, on which a young Satyajit Ray was an assistant director, delicately unfolds as a story of both the small and significant moments of life that turn children into adults. Patient, languidly paced, and seemingly simple—Roger Ebert remarked that the film “regards life without trying to wrest it into a plot.” THE RIVER’s profundity rushes over you like, well…a river; one that continuously flows, irrespective of the lives and people at its banks.

Awards & Nominations

Winner - International Award, Venice Film Festival
Nominee - Golden Lion, Venice Film Festival
Nominee - Best British Film, Best Film from any Source, BAFTA Awards
Nominee - Best Film, New York Film Critics Circle Awards

Rise & Shine: Mere hours after you’ve opened your eyes to the day, the Film Center invites you to open your eyes in an entirely different way with a morning screening of soul-altering cinema. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, play the slightest bit of hooky with us, after which you will emerge onto the hustle and bustle of State Street feeling energized, maybe even with your humanity restored, and all before lunchtime! Tickets include unlimited coffee from Dark Matter Coffee, and enjoy 10 percent off your order when you show your Rise & Shine ticket at Goddess and the Baker at 33 South Wabash or 225 North LaSalle on the day of your screening. What a way to start the day! View full series.

The Film Center is ADA accessible. This presentation will be projected without open captions. The theater is hearing-loop equipped. For accessibility requests, please email filmcenter@saic.edu