To launch our South Asian Heritage Month season, which is themed ‘Stories to Tell”, we screened Jean Renoir’s intoxicating first colour feature – shot entirely on location in India – The River.

The film was preceded by an Odissi Dance Performance by Prachi Hota and introduced by guest curator Anupma Shanker, who selected the film.

Anupma is a British-Indian film curator and archives researcher, with a deep and evolving interest in colonial & post-colonial screen narratives. Her curatorial practice is focussed on researching, screening and creating conversations around heritage films, with aim of making them accessible to a wider audience, both within and outside the UK. Her other interests include, Black-British cinema, Post-war Japanese Cinema, Indian Parallel Cinema, and Iranian New-wave Cinema.