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Pather Panchali is a 1955 Bengali drama film adapted from Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay's 1929 Bengali novel of the same name. The debut film of the Indian director Satyajit Ray, it depicts the lives of a family from a poor Indian village with two children, Apu (Subir Banerjee) and his elder sister Durga (Uma Dasgupta). The film, shot mainly on location in rural India, took nearly three years to complete. Sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar composed the score. After a screening in May at New York's Museum of Modern Art, it was officially released in Kolkata on August 26, 1955, and was enthusiastically received after a slow start. Many critics have praised the film's realism and humanity, though a few have found fault with its slow pace; other critics have condemned it, claiming it romanticizes poverty. The tale of Apu's life is continued in Aparajito (The Unvanquished, 1956) and Apur Sansar (The World of Apu, 1959). The three films constitute the Apu Trilogy. Pather Panchali was a pioneer film of the Parallel Cinema movement and was the first film from independent India to attract major international attention, winning a number of awards and establishing Ray as a major director. It has been featured in lists of the greatest films ever made. (Full article...)

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On this day...

August 26: Heroes' Day/Herero Day in Namibia; Women's Equality Day in the United States

Eruption of Krakatoa

1071 – Byzantine–Seljuq wars: Seljuk Turks led by Alp Arslan captured Byzantine Emperor Romanos IV at the Battle of Manzikert.
1789 – French Revolution: The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, defining a set of individual and collective rights of the people, was approved by the National Constituent Assembly.
1883 – A massive eruption destroyed the volcanic island of Krakatoa, ejecting so much ash that average global temperatures fell by as much as 1.2 °C (2.2 °F) over the next year.
1968 – The US Democratic Party's National Convention began at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, sparking four days of clashes between anti-Vietnam War protesters and police.
1977 – The National Assembly of Quebec declared French to be the only official language of Quebec.

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All Saints Church is an Anglican church in the village of Odiham, Hampshire. The oldest visible parts of the current church, the chancel and the base of the tower, date back to the 13th century; several additions, including the tower and the nave, were built over subsequent centuries. English Heritage has designated the All Saints Church as a grade I listed building.

Photograph: Lewis Hulbert; edits: Jacek Halicki and Christian Ferrer

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