Venice Film Festival to screen 4K restored version of Bimal Roy's 'Do Bigha Zamin'

The Venice Film Festival has officially announced that the newly restored 4K version of Bimal Roy’s iconic masterpiece, ‘Do Bigha Zamin’ (1953), will receive its world premiere at the 2025 edition of the festival. The announcement coincides with the 116th birth anniversary of Bimal Roy, the visionary director who was at the forefront of the Golden Age of Indian Cinema during the 1950s and 1960s.

The presentation in Venice will be led by members of the Bimal Roy family—his daughters Rinki Roy Bhattacharya and Aparajita Roy Sinha, his son Joy Bimal Roy—as well as Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, Director of the Film Heritage Foundation.

This landmark restoration is the result of a collaborative effort between not-for-profit organisation Film Heritage Foundation, The Criterion Collection and Janus Films. ‘Do Bigha Zamin’, celebrated as the first Indian film to win the prestigious Prix International at the Cannes Film Festival in 1954, also received honors at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and secured both Best Film and Best Director Awards at the inaugural Filmfare Awards in India.

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Gulzar states, “It’s amazing that ‘Do Bigha Zamin’ is restored and will be shown in Venice. This film is historic as it changed the way films were made in India. After Chetan Anand’s ‘Neecha Nagar’ which won an award at the Cannes Film Festival, this was the second Indian film to win at the Cannes Film Festival and receive international recognition. The most important element is that all his films right from the Bengali ones which he made and the Hindi films which he made, all these films were based on literature. Not many people know that ‘Do Bigha Zamin’ is from a poem by Rabindranath Tagore, which was also called ‘Do Bigha Zamin’. The script was done by Salil Choudhury. I started working with Bimal-da, who we used to call Dada, from the film ‘Kabuliwala’ when I was his chief assistant. I have very fond memories of that time.

People would say that Bimal-da was like a married print. In those days, the picture and sound negatives were separate and when they were brought together optically to make the release print, it would be called a married print. Bimal-da would shoot two shifts in a day – 7 am to 2 pm and 2 pm to 10 pm and would then sit in the editing room working till late night at Mohan Studios.

People would say that he is married to films. Bimal Roy was the coolest director I have ever seen. I learnt not only filmmaking from him, but the art of patience and stamina. Shivendra Dungarpur, your work through Film Heritage Foundation is beyond filmmaking. You are the director of directors and maker of makers.”

Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, Director, Film Heritage Foundation states, “When I was working as an assistant to Gulzarsaheb, he would often speak about his guru Bimal Roy. This spurred me to watch all his films right from the time he was a cameraman on P.C. Barua’s ‘Devdas’ to his first Bengali film as a director ‘Udayer Pathey’ to ‘Do Bigha Zamin’.

In his films I was struck by the poetic visuals, the silences, the deep humanism and compassion that he showed in the social themes of his films that highlighted the plight of the marginalized, the issues of migrant labour, and the urban-rural divide that are still so relevant today. For me ‘Do Bigha Zamin’ changed the face of Indian cinema that brought filmmakers out of the studio to begin shooting on the streets. I am so happy that we were able to collaborate with The Criterion Collection / Janus Films to restore not only ‘Do Bigha Zamin’, but other classics of Bimal Roy like ‘Devdas’, ‘Madhumati’ and ‘Bandini’, which are in the process of being restored.”

Bimal Roy family comprising of Rinki Roy Bhattacharya, Aparajita Roy Sinha, Joy Bimal Roy states, “Today, on our father’s 116th birthday, the announcement that the restoration of his film ‘Do Bigha Zamin’ has been selected for a world premiere at the Venice Film Festival is a dream come true for us. This would not have been possible without the tireless efforts of Shivendra Singh Dungarpur of Film Heritage Foundation and Fumiko Takagi of the Criterion Collection. Our heartfelt thanks to both of them for their unwavering dedication to restoring and celebrating cinema.

‘Do Bigha Zamin’ is especially fitting for this prestigious platform, as it holds a unique connection with Italian cinema. After watching Vittorio De Sica’s film ‘Bicycle Thieves’, our father hoped Indian cinema would follow its deeply moving humanist vision. ‘Do Bigha Zamin’, is an unspoken autobiography of Bimal Roy who was cast off from his home in East Bengal in a similar episode as the hero, peasant, Sambhu Mahato. He never recovered from this cruel separation from his beloved birthplace. In the brief lifetime accorded to our father, he transformed the profile of Indian cinema and was able to stir collective consciousness with his cinematic parables. Our father was a silent cinema poet and a visionary of profound humanism whose work shall continue to act as a beacon whenever dark forces threaten.”