Filmmaker Partho Sen-Gupta was born in Mumbai (Bombay), India in 1965. He started his career as an apprentice in the art department in the studios of ‘Bollywood’.
In 1988, he was art director on an Indian art film, Main Zinda Hoon (I am Alive), directed by Sudhir Mishra. He then set up his own studio and worked on numerous advertising films and feature films, designing sets and specializing in SFX. He won the award for Best Art Director in India in 1989.
He worked as Art Director on the French film Nocturne Indien, directed by Alain Corneau, which was shot in India.
In 1993, he was awarded a full scholarship to study film direction at the FEMIS, the French film institute in Paris. Between 1993 and 1997, he made five short films that took him to different European film festivals at which he won several awards.
After graduation in 1997, he started writing the script for his first feature film; Hava Aney Dey (Let the wind Blow). While securing the funding for his film, he worked as executive producer for French advertisement films and music videos shot in India. He also directed a music video, a music documentary, and wrote a short film script ‘Cross Connection’ which won him the ‘Best short film Script Award’ (SACEM) at the Moulin d'Andé.
‘Hava Aney Dey - Let the wind Blow’ (93 mins, Hindi) was partially funded by the Fonds Sud. It was selected at the 2002 Pusan Promotion Plan and at Cinemart 2003. It premiered at the 2004 Berlinale in the Forum section. It was also selected by many other major international film festivals and won several awards.
Sen-Gupta also directed a documentary, Shakti Timeless, on the Indo-Western fusion group, tracing its history from the 1970s to the present.
He is currently also working on Fallen Hero, his next feature film which has received the Hubert Bals Fund for script development from the International Film Festival of Rotterdam.
He is also co-writing and directing an international feature film ‘The Myra Project’ with Bero Beyer of Augustus Films, Netherlands and developing a full length creative documentary ‘Métèque’.
He has also co-founded Independent Movies Ltd in 2002 with Rakesh Mehra to produce not only his own films but also develop quality Indian films with other directors. The company is currently involved in the production of two feature films in India.
SEND AN EMAIL<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<DOWNLOAD CV
2008 Fallen
Hero (Development)
(Fiction Feature –Independent Movies LTD - HINDI –100’)
Awarded HUBER BALS FILM FUND (Script development ) 2005
2005 Shakti Timeless
(Documentary / Universal Jazz France - ENGLISH – 62’)
Durban International Film Festival 2007
2005 Sound
Check
(Live Concert- Documentary / Universal Jazz France - Musical – 45’)
2004 Hava
Aney Dey
(Let the Wind Blow)
(Fiction Feature / Santocha Prod, FR - M Media IND– 35mm HINDI 93’)
Berlinale 2004 /
*BBC Audience Prize – Commonwealth FF /
*Best Film – Durban FF /
*Special Jury Prize – Firebird Award Hong Kong Int. FF/
3 Continents / Tokyo Filmex /
2001 Looking
For Me
(Music Video/Santocha productions, Paris/ Video - 3’20)
2001 Saturday
Night in Bombay
(Live Concert Documentary / Universal Jazz France- Musical– 55’)
1998 Cross-Connection
(Short Fiction Script ENGLISH)
*Best Script Award – SACEM - Moulin D’Andé
1997 La
Petite Souris
(Fiction short / No Dialogues/ 35mm - 7’ CRIF /FEMIS)
1997 La
Partition
(Fiction - 35mm / No dialogues / 35mm - 6’. SRF/FEMIS)
Festival de Film de Paris 1998
1996 Trajet
Discontinu
(Fiction / French / 35mm - 26’. FEMIS-GREC)
*Jury Award-Festival Premier Plans d’Angers 97’ /*Special Jury
Prize – CERRUTTI Fondation)
1995 Le
Cochon
(Fiction / French / 35mm - 12’ FEMIS)
Locarno IFF, Clermont-Ferrand FF , Aix-en-Provence FF, Potsdam-Babelsburg FF
Hava Aney Dey (Let the Wind Blow). 2004. screening at the Museum of Modern Art, New York on Thursday, January 17 2008, 18:00;
Wednesday, January 23 2008, 20:00. T2
Global Lens 2008 now in its fifth year, will première at the MOMA (Museum of Modern Art), New York in January, before embarking on year-long tour of over 50 cities across the United States.
WATCH GLOBAL LENS 2008 TRAILER
METIC SELECTED AT ARCHIDOC 2007- 6th September 2007
METIC, a
documentary film project by Partho Sen-Gupta has been selected
among ten European documentary projects for the ARCHIDOC
2007 (MEDIA, FEMIS and the Acquitaine Region).
ARCHIDOC is a two session script development workshop. Participants
rewrite their script and note of intent, with the help of
tutors. Masterclasses by experienced filmmakers provide expertise
on creative archive use, on legal and production issues and
on current European documentary context. Pitching technique
training and a pitch in front of producers and European TV
commissioning editors takes place during the FIPA event in
Biarritz, France.
HAVA ANEY DEY (Let the Wind Blow) IS PART OF GLOBAL FILM INITIATIVE'S GLOBAL LENS 2008 FILM LINEUP -16th August 2007
The Global Film Initiative announced today ten award-winning narrative, feature films from Argentina, China, Croatia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Lebanon, Philippines and South Africa that will headline the Global Lens 2008 film series.
“The films selected for Global Lens 2008 are beautiful, powerful stories that represent the best of cinema from around the world-they must be seen and experienced,” says Susan Weeks Coulter, Board Chair of The Global Film Initiative.
Global Lens 2008, now in its fifth year, will première at the MOMA (Museum of Modern Art), New York in January, before embarking on year-long tour of over thirty cities across the United States.
'SHAKTI TIMELESS’ (documentary) SCREENED AT THE DURBAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL -20thJUNE 2007
The first documentary for the fusion group Shakti with John McLaughlin, Zakir Hussain, U. Srinivas & V. Selvaganesh, starting from the early seventies. John and Zakir speak about their beginnings, their era with L. Shankar and T.H. Vinayakram.Released in Europe in May 2006. (U.S & Canada release in the Summer of 2006)
