India Press Releases - 2004

08 November 2004                                                             (Bengali)

American Center Presents Marlon Brando Retrospective During Calcutta Film Festival

Calcutta, November 8 -- Simultaneously with the upcoming Kolkata film festival from November 11, 2004, the American Center will present a Marlon Brando retrospective at Nandan II and III, jointly with the Calcutta Film Society and the Department of Media Studies, Calcutta University. Organizers of the 10th Kolkata film festival will also utilize this opportunity as a "Tribute to Marlon Brando.

Considered by many to be the “Greatest actor of all time,” Marlon Brando is known for bringing “real acting” on stage and screen into Hollywood mainstream. His breakout role was on stage for A Streetcar Named Desire. The legendary actor won two Oscars for “Best Actor in Leading Role” in 1955, and in 1975 for the films On the Waterfront and The Godfather. During his career he was nominated for six Oscars. Brando was also a winner of four Golden Globe awards and was adjudged the best actor at the Cannes Film Festival for Viva Zapata in 1952. Although Brando is often imitated but never duplicated, he lived a very secluded life and rarely made public appearances.

The people of Calcutta, however, will remember him forever for his acting in The Godfather, one of the greatest hits of all time. Many thought Mario Puzo wrote the international bestseller with Brando in view playing the role of Don Vito Corleone, the head of a Sicilian Mafia family in New York. Brando, incidentally, had a connection with Calcutta. His first wife Anna Kashfi was from the city. Brando himself came to Calcutta in the mid-1970s, and was interviewed by another legend, Satyajit Ray, for Doordarshan.

The films chosen in the package include On the Waterfront, A Streetcar Named Desire, both directed by Elia Kazan, and Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather and Apocalypse Now. Another classic of 1955, Guys and Dolls, directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, also features in the package. While each is being shown once between November 11 and 16, On The Waterfront, will be shown twice on November 11 and 13 respectively, the show timings varying between 9.15 a.m. and 11.30 a.m. everyday.