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Late RITA RAY (1924-1983), a noted film critic writing under the name of Kobita Sarkar, and a long-time member of the Central Board of Film Censors, contributed significantly to the spread of a positive attitude towards cinema in India. |
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She wrote INDIAN CINEMA TODAY: AN ANALYSIS,
1975, and YOU CAN'T PLEASE EVERYONE: FILM CENSORSHIP - THE
INSIDE STORY, 1982.
When Chitrabani was created in 1970, Mrs Ray gave it full support. And when the centre was registered in 1979, she was its advisor along with Mr Satyajit Ray.
As a token of appreciation for her contribution to film studies in this country and for her constant support of Chitrabani, and to embody permanently her deep appreciation for the cinema and its role in society, the Chitrabani library and viewing hall have been named after her.
The Ray's family have donated to the library Rita Ray's collection of 8 mm film classics, her collection of nearly 4000 stills from or about films, and her books on cinema.
The Library contains 12,000 books and 50 magazines on :
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The Communication Media |
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Still Photography, |
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Cinema |
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Cultural Studies. |
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It also includes the William Gedney collection of books on still photography.
The library books and magazines have been computerised, so that one could trace the desired book without much searching.
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Individual : Rs. 30 per month.
Institution : Rs. 750 per year.
Day Use : Rs 10.
The library is open from 10 AM to 8 PM on all working days. |
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Chitrabani audio-visual archives contains a rich source of material both for documentation and for those pursuing research in communication media, especially in the fields of early film history, and Indian film industry. |
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Chitrabani archives contains over 9,000 colour slides, dealing with a wide range of topics. They were part of Chitrabani's various documentation projects. The slides are available for research and non-profit projects. |
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There are about 300 16 mm films available at Chitrabani's archives, most of them documentaries in the history of films. The films are available for in-house viewing. |
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There are about 750 video films in VHS, DVD
and VCD formats at the archives here. Copies of classics
in different languages, both Indian and foreign, down the
decades are preserved.
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15,000 documentary black & white negatives, and about 3,000 colour negatives are available in Chitrabani. They are available to NGOs and voluntary agencies. |
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Chitrabani was known from inception for photographic works, which had a professional touch. Part of the department of photography was the different projects undertaken to document life in Kolkata, Bengal, and its adjoining states. |
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1972 |
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Photographic dark room installed at St Xavier's College. |
1974 |
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First course in still photography. |
1976 |
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First documentary project : People of Calcutta, with ten participants. |
1977 |
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Documentary photographs of children of Pilkhana. |
1984 |
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Processing of colour slides begin.
First two-year training programme in still photography |
1988 |
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Printing of colour photographs starts.
Visitors : Lee Friedlander, Raghubir Singh, Mary Ellen-Mark. |
1991 |
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Chitrabani Photographic Association created. |
1995, March 31 |
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The Photographic Department is closed. After
23 years of creative service to development agencies,
Chitrabani hopes to render similar service through video. |
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15,000 documentary black & white negatives, and about 3,000 colour negatives are available in Chitrabani. They are available to NGOs and voluntary agencies. |
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Shaheed Minar (People of Calcutta) |
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Pilkhana Child Project (Howrah) |
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The World of Mother Teresa |
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Rural Bengal Documentation |
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Tribals of Orissa |
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Election Posters |
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Bauls of West Bengal |
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West Bengal Flood 1978. |
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The photographs and colour slides are available to researchers and non-governmental organizations working on developmental projects. |
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An association of Chitrabani's photographers was begun in 1991, with those who had training in photography from Chitrabani and were in photography profession. When begun it had 108 members on the register.
Chitrabani offered the members of this association special privileges to get their works done at Chitrabani's photographic dark room. Ever since the closure of the photographic department at Chitrabani the Association had become defunct.
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