Film Heritage Foundation Brings Six Restorations to Las Palmas Film Festival
Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, the founder of the Film Heritage Foundation (FHF), will showcase six restored films at the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival, commencing on April 23. Featured films include "Days and Nights in the Forest" (1970) by Satyajit Ray, "Sholay – The Final Cut" (1975) by Ramesh Sippy, "The Churning (Manthan, 1976)" by Shyam Benegal, "Two Acres of Land (Do Bigha Zamin, 1953)" by Bimal Roy, "The Circus Tent (Thampu, 1978)" by Aravindan Govindan, and "The Girls (Gehenu Lamai, 1978)" by Sumitra Peries. Dungarpur also serves on the festival jury. Established in 2014, FHF has trained nearly 500 archivists and operates in Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Afghanistan. He also directs the Mumbai Film Festival and advocates for regional cinema, noting that 70% of Indian films produced before 1950 are now lost.
Key facts
- Shivendra Singh Dungarpur founded Film Heritage Foundation in 2014.
- Six FHF restorations will screen at Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Intl. Film Festival starting April 23.
- Restorations include Satyajit Ray's 'Days and Nights in the Forest' (1970), presented by Wes Anderson at Cannes 2025.
- 'Sholay – The Final Cut' restoration uncovered censored climax and two deleted scenes from London material.
- Sumitra Peries' 'The Girls' (1978) is the first Sri Lankan film released theatrically in France.
- FHF is the only non-governmental film preservation body in India.
- FHF has trained nearly 500 archivists and works in Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Afghanistan.
- Moving Image Centre in Mumbai has been under construction since 2024.
- 70% of Indian films made before 1950 are lost.
- Dungarpur also directs the Mumbai Film Festival and introduced the MAMI Independent strand.
Entities
Artists
- Shivendra Singh Dungarpur
- Satyajit Ray
- Wes Anderson
- Ramesh Sippy
- Shyam Benegal
- Bimal Roy
- Aravindan Govindan
- Sumitra Peries
- Uday Shankar
- P.K. Nair
- Martin Scorsese
- Kamal Amrohi
- Dev Benegal
Institutions
- Film Heritage Foundation
- Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Intl. Film Festival
- Cannes Film Festival
- Venice Film Festival
- Berlin International Film Festival
- Toronto International Film Festival
- Il Cinema Ritrovato
- The Film Foundation
- National Film Archive of India
- Mumbai Film Festival
- MAMI Independent
- FIAF
- Regal Cinema
- Moving Image Centre
- Film and Television Institute of India
Locations
- Mumbai
- India
- Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
- Spain
- Bologna
- Italy
- London
- United Kingdom
- Sri Lanka
- Nepal
- Afghanistan
- Manipur
- Karnataka
- Odisha
- Kerala
- Meghalaya
- Sikkim
- Cairo
- Brazil
- Poland
- Taiwan
- France