With a thirty-year history, The Suchitra Film Society has
had a humble beginning. The year 1970 saw the formation of an
executive committee for the Society with popular theatre activist,
Nani as the President and film novices for teammates.
The sole driving force and meeting grounds of this board being
their fervour for films! The informality of the associates was
engaging with many a board meeting held at the lunch tables
of the Bharath Electronics (of which many were employees).
In the initial stages, the society had no federations of film
societies and knew not of any source to pick up films from.
This didn't deter the members and the Society
egged on. A humorous account of the holdups of the initial stages
coming from the present president, Mr H.N. Narahari Rao,"I still remember, one of our friends approached
us seeking life membership. We conveniently avoided him because
we were not sure as to how long we would survive!"
The Society's success story that began with the Bergman Film
Festival in 1973 has remained an unbroken chain with its
achievement peaking in the year 1977 with Nostalgia and
the most recent of all being the screening of Children's films
in 2000.
In 1980, none other than Satyajit Ray inaugurated The
Suchitra Cinema and Cultural Academy.
"We need art theatres to find outlet for good films … I am
particularly happy that a film society is doing it" - Satyajit
Ray on the Suchitra Film Society
Commencing from a festival of films of Louis Malle, the
celebrated French filmmaker, the film society has screened a
package of films from Poland and Germany. Simultaneously,
a series of Kannada films headed by Girish Karnad, and
the early films of Raj Kapoor were also screened.
Today, the society has many hanger-ons with a good number of
members and an equally good number of working groups and organisations
to back it. Some of whichinclude
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The Suchitra Library which has good reference materials
on cinema from India and the world over.
The Suchitra Balajagat has a bevy of activities for children
such as monthly screening of innovative films, quiz programmes,
cultural activities and Children's Film Festivals.
Chitrabharathi, a public festival which holds the screening
of a selected 25 films for a period of two weeks in all regional
languages.
Suchitra Film Workshop, which conducts film workshops,
competitions and guidance to amateurs on making short films.
The Film Society believes - "Great films will be made when
we have greater audience."
-Andre Malraux
Art Complex, a short-term course on Film and Video Technology,
a film appreciation course and a Kalakendra as a
stepping-stone for artists to perform to a larger audience,
are some of the plans knit for the future.
Ambitions sketched by the Society are keenly awaited by film
and art lovers!
7:38:16 AM 
iety
egged on. A humorous account of the holdups of the initial stages
coming from the present president, Mr H.N. Narahari Rao,
"I still remember, one of our friends approached
us seeking life membership. We conveniently avoided him because
we were not sure as to how long we would survive!" 
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