पार्थो शेन-गुप्तो

Born in Mumbai, Partho Sen-Gupta started his film career at the age of seventeen as an apprentice in the studios of Bollywood. From 1988, he worked as Art director and Production designer on numerous Indian and foreign films, television programs and theatre. In 1993, he was awarded a four-year scholarship to study film direction at La FEMIS in Paris. He made four short fiction films, which were selected for different European film festivals and won several awards.

After graduation, he made his first feature film; Hava Aney Dey (Let the Wind Blow) premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2004 and was screened at major international film festivals and won awards. It is part of the Global Lens series and opened at the MoMA, New York in 2008. Sen-Gupta also directed a full-length documentary, Shakti Timeless, for Universal Jazz. In 2010 he was in residence in Berlin developing a feature film script as a fellow of the NIPKOW Programm.

He is currently preparing to shoot Arunoday (Sunrise) a feature film set in India. It was selected at the Locarno Film Festival’s Open Doors Co-Production workshop and at the Pusan Promotion Plan. It is being co-produced by the National Film Development Corporation of India.

Training:
2010     
Script Development Fellowship - Nipkow Programm, Berlin

2010      ‘Art of Negotiation in Film Business’ (Petra Padberg, Business Mediator und Executive Coach & Renate Roginas, CEO Villa Kult, Berlin

2008      Documentary Development, Archidoc, France

1993-97  Diplôme de Cinéma – Film Direction – La FEMIS, École Nationale Supérieure des Métiers de l’Image et du Son, Paris FR.


Selective Filmography:

Writer-Director

Current     Arunoday (Sunrise) (under production)
(Fiction Feature / Marathi)
Selected at the Pusan Promotion Plan (now Asian Film Market)
Selected at the Locarno Film Festival’s Open Doors  201

                    Madeleine (Script & Project Development)
(Fiction Feature – French)
Developed at the Nipkow Programm, Berlin                                   

2006           Shakti Timeless
(Documentary / Universal Jazz France – ENGLISH – 60’)
Selected at the Durban Int. FF 2007

2005            Sound Check
(Live Concert- Documentary / Universal Jazz France – 45’)

2004            Hava Aney Dey (Let the Wind Blow) – Watch Film Online
(Fiction Feature / Santocha Prod, FR – M Media IND– 35mm HINDI 93’)
Selected at the Pusan Promotion Plan
Selected at the Cinemart
Berlinale 2004 / 3 Continents / Tokyo Filmex / IFFR
Awarded *BBC Audience Prize – Commonwealth FF /
*Best Film – Durban FF / *Special Jury Prize – Firebird Award Hong Kong Int. FF

2000           Saturday Night in Bombay
(Live Concert Documentary / Universal Jazz France- Musical– 55’)

1998            Cross-Connection (Short Fiction Script ENGLISH)
Awarded *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)
Selected at the Festival de Film de Paris 1998

1996             Trajet Discontinu (Fiction / French / 35mm – 26’. FEMIS-GREC) Graduation Film
*Jury Award-Festival Premier Plans d’Angers 97’
*Special Jury Prize CERRUTTI Fondation)

1995              Le Cochon (Fiction / French / 35mm – 12’ FEMIS)
Selected at the Locarno IFF, Clermont-Ferrand FF , Aix-en-Provence FF, Potsdam-Babelsburg FF


Production Designer / Art Director

1989              Nocturne Indien by Alain Corneau
(Feature film/ FR 90’ – Alliance productions)

1989               Raakh by Aditya Bhattacharya
(Feature film/ Hindi 90’ Inde – NFDC)

1988               Mein Zinda Hoon (I am Alive) by Sudhir Mishra –
(Feature film/ Hindi 90’ Inde – NFDC)

1983-1987    Assistant Art Director in Bombay