NEW DELHI: Indian cine craftsman Satyajit Ray’s Apu trilogy stands at the fifth place in the top ten films in Asia drawn up during the 20th Busan International Film Festival.

In a separate list of the top ten directors, Ray again figures at the fifth place.

Ray is the only Indian filmmaker to have won an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement, and the Oscar Committee had come to Kolkata to give him his honour as he was ill at the time. He passed away in April 1992 at the age of 71.

The top film is Tokyo Story from Japan whose director Ozu Yasujiro features at the top in the director’s list.

The ‘Asian Cinema 100’ for the Special Programme in Focus this year at the Festival aims to celebrate its history and is a collaboration project with the Festival and the Busan Cinema Centre to shed light on the values of Asian film. 

The list will be updated every five years to act as a guide for the aesthetic value and history of Asian cinema and to discover hidden masterpieces and talented directors of Asia.

For the project, 73 prominent film professionals included film critics such as Jonathan Rosenbaum, Tony Rayns, Hasumi Shigehiko, and festival executives, programmers, and directors Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Bong Joon-ho, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul. 

They recommended their top 10 films, resulting in 113 selections and 106 directors (including joint rankings) for the final 100 list.

Akira Kurosawa had two films in the top 10 list that included Rashomon (1950) in second place and Seven Samurai (1954) at sixth place. 

The top 10 (a total of 11 films) will screen under Asian Cinema 100. A special book containing the details and reviews of the films on the list by 29 film professionals will be published during the Festival.

Interestingly, Close Up from Iran is listed at the eleventh number, while its popular director Abbas Kiarostami figures at number three in the Directors List. 

There are three Japanese films and two films each from China and Taiwan in the list of eleven films.

The Apu Trilogy (Satyajit Ray, 1955) depicts the life of Apu in Pather Panchali (1955), Aparajito; (1956), and Apur Sansar (1959). A masterpiece that realistically and placidly portrays Indian society. Ray is called a master of Asian film as well as the father of Indian cinema.

[Special Program in Focus: Asian Cinema 100 - Top 10 Screening List (11 total, including joint ranking]

 [Special Program in Focus: Asian Cinema 100 – Top 10 Directors (including joint ranking]