The Man Who Knew Infinity
VIEW EVENT DETAILSAsia Society Screen Asia Series
Evening Gala Screening and Post-screening Discussion
Drinks reception: 6:00pm
Screening: 6:30pm
Discussion: 8:25pm
Post-screening Reception: 9:00pm
Close: 10:00pm
The Man Who Knew Infinity is the improbable true story of a unique genius whose pivotal theories propelled him from obscurity into a journey that revolutionized how scientists explain the world. Starring Dev Patel as the mathematics genius Srinivasa Ramanujan and Devika Bhise as his wife Janaki, the story begins in 1913 Madras, India, where Ramanujan is a 25-year-old shipping clerk and self-taught genius, who has failed college due to his near-obsessive, solitary study of mathematics. Determined to pursue his passion despite rejection from his peers, Ramanujan writes to the eminent Cambridge mathematics professor G. H. Hardy (Jeremy Irons) at Trinity College. Hardy recognizes the originality and brilliance of Ramanujan’s raw talent, he undertakes bringing Ramanujan to Cambridge, beginning “the one romantic incident” in Hardy’s life, a friendship that defies sociocultural norms of the time which gives roots to doing more for mathematics in Ramanujan’s short 32-year life than what men had accomplished in a thousand years.
Executive Producer and Associate Producer India Swati Bhise will be joined by actress Devika Bhise to recount anecdotes from working with the all-star cast, highlighting their role in helping to navigate the cultural-historical divide which called for a detailed research to ensure an authentic representation of Indian traditions of that time - from what Ramanujuan would have worn to reflect his Tamil Brahmin Iyengar background, to the colors of Janika’s nine-yard sari, to the symbolisms her embellishments would represent for a woman of her status, to the selection of authentic filming locations. Nobel Prize-winning economist Professor James Mirrlees who has lived in the same part of Trinity College as Ramanujan will draw from his Cambridge memories to reimagine academia during the First World War, discuss significance of Ramanujan and Hardy’s contribution to mathematics, and how such pioneers continue to inspire generations to follow. The post-screening discussion will be moderated by S. Alice Mong, Executive Director of Asia Society Hong Kong Center.
Devika Bhise is a talented actress, dancer, and jazz vocalist. Bhise is most well known for her role as Janaki, the wife of Ramanujan, in the film The Man Who Knew Infinity starring Jeremy Irons and Dev Patel. Early in her career, Bhise was featured in The Accidental Husband, starring Uma Thurman and Colin Firth. Beyond her work in film, the actress has starred in a number theatrical productions in New York including Chad Beckim’s off-Broadway play And Miles To Go, and the lead role in Stephen Belber’s We Are Among Us, starring Edie Falco. Born and raised in New York City, Bhise attended The Brearley School, after which she attended Johns Hopkins University, where she was awarded the Hodson Trust Scholarship and the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship under the mentorship of the award-winning actor, John Astin. As a Woodrow Wilson Fellow, Bhise brought the nearly extinct UNESCO heritage art form, Kudiyattam, to the United States for the first time. At 18 years old, Bhise directed and produced a documentary short film titled Hijras: The Third Gender, which won the award for Best Social Documentary at the New York Independent Film and Video Festival. Bhise is also a trained Bharatanatyam dancer and has performed as a soloist at numerous venues including Lincoln Center and Asia Society.
Swati Bhise has had a career over the last 30 years in the creative arts spanning Indian classical arts, media talk shows, arts in education, women’s empowerment and film production. Swati is the CEO of Cayenne Pepper Productions and Executive Producer/Associate India Producer for the 2016 film The Man Who Knew Infinity. She is also on the executive committee of the Asia Foundation focusing on global women’s empowerment issues. She has had a stellar career as a Bharatanayam dancer spanning many decades including training a generation of American children in Indian classical arts. She was the U.S. correspondent for the Sruti magazine and also the anchor of the TV program Spotlight on Culture.
Professor James Mirrlees is a world-renowned economist who pioneered optimal taxation theory. He was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1996. He was recently awarded a Royal Medal 2009 by The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) for his outstanding contributions to economic theory which has had a global impact on economic development. Professor Mirrlees has been Distinguished Professor-at-Large at the Chinese University of Hong Kong since 2002, providing academic leadership for the University community and occasionally delivering public lectures. He is Master of Morningside College and has been playing a pivotal role in the development of the new College since its establishment in 2006. He was knighted in 1997. After graduating from the University of Edinburgh in 1957, Professor Mirrlees was admitted to Trinity College at Cambridge University and received his PhD in Economics in 1963. From 1968 to 1995, he was Edgeworth Professor of Economics at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Nuffield College. He is Emeritus Professor of Political Economy at the University of Cambridge and is a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. He has held visiting professorships at MIT, UC Berkeley, Yale and Melbourne.
S. Alice Mong is the Executive Director of Asia Society Hong Kong Center. Prior to this, she held several senior management positions in the non-profit sector in New York for over a decade. Ms. Mong was the Director of the Museum of Chinese in America from 2009 to 2011, where she successfully transformed the museum from a New York Chinatown institution to a leading national museum. She was also the Executive Director for the Committee of 100 in the United States, a Chinese-American non-profit membership organization founded by architect I.M. Pei and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Ms. Mong graduated from Ohio State University and holds an Executive MBA from the Kellogg - Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Executive MBA Program. (Moderator)
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