Matthew Brown’s dramatic bio-pic THE MAN WHO KNEW INFINITY has been selected to open the 11th edition of the Zurich Film Festival. He directed the film from a screenplay he adapted from Robert Kanigel’s novel “The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan”. The film stars Jeremy Irons, Dev Patel, Toby Jones, Stephen Fry, Devika Bhise, Jeremy Northam and Kevin McNally.

THE MAN WHO KNEW INFINITY tells the true story of Srinivasa Ramanujan (Dev Patel), a self-taught mathematics genius from India, who leaves behind his beloved young bride, Janaki (Devika Bhise), to travel across the world to Cambridge where he forges a bond with his mentor, the eccentric professor G.H. Hardy (Jeremy Irons), and becomes a pioneer in mathematical theories using the magic of his mind.

From Madras to Cambridge

In 1913, a young unschooled Indian clerk wrote a letter to G.H. Hardy, begging the preeminent English mathematician’s opinion on several ideas he had about numbers. Realizing the letter was the work of a genius, Hardy arranged for Srinivasa Ramanujan to come to England. Thus began one of the most improbable and productive collaborations ever chronicled. The story takes audiences from the temples and slums of Madras to the courts and chapels of Cambridge University, where the devout Hindu Ramanujan, ‘the Prince of Intuition,’ tested his brilliant theories alongside the sophisticated and eccentric Hardy, ‘the Apostle of Proof.’ In time, Ramanujan’s creative intensity took its toll: he died at the age of thirty-two and left behind a magical and inspired legacy that is still being plumbed for its secrets today.