The Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute organised a virtual convocation ceremony on Sunday, a day that also marked the beginning of the year-long celebrations to commemorate the birth centenary of the legendary film-maker.

The graduates of the 13th batch of the film wing, the first batch of the electronic and digital media wing and the first batch of the animation cinema wing got their post graduate diploma certificate after pursuing different specialisations and successfully completing their first films.

“This day is very significant to us as Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute presents the nation with a bunch of new filmmakers,” Professor Amaresh Chakrabarti, director in-charge of the Kolkata-based institute, said.

The chief guest of the ceremony was Aparna Sen, an eminent actor, filmmaker and Padma Shri recipient. She congratulated the graduates on completion of their formal education in various disciplines of cinema and allied audiovisual mediums.

In the valedictory speech, she also shared her memories with Ray.

“It is doubly auspicious as the day marks the beginning of the centenary celebrations of the master auteur,” she said.

Named after the legendary film maestro Satyajit Ray, the institute has emerged as a centre of excellence which offers post-graduate programme in cinematic and television studies.

Satyajit Ray, a genuine artist, made Indian cinema worthy of serious attention for the first time in its history, an official statement said

Commissioned and produced by the institute, a total of 21 dissertation films and their student crew received honours, comprising six films from animation cinema, five films from the electronic and digital media wing and 10 films from the film wing.

Amongst this wide spectrum of narratives, Like a Midnight Dream (Oru Paathira Swapnam Pole), a dissertation film by Sharan Venugopal, was recently awarded Best Film on Family Values in the 67th National Film Awards by Directorate of Film Festivals.