About

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’. He then set up his own design studio and worked on numerous advertising films and feature films, designing sets and specializing in SFX. He was Art director on Alain Corneau’s Nocturne Indien in 1989. He won the award for Best Art Director in India in 1989.

In 1993, he was awarded a scholarship to study film direction at the FEMIS, the French film institute in Paris. He made four short films that took him to different European film festivals at which he won several awards.  After graduation, he made his first feature film, ‘Hava Aney Dey’ – Let the wind Blow’ (93 mins, Hindi) which premiered at the 2004 Berlin international film festival. It was also selected by many other major international film festivals and won several awards. It was screened at the MoMa, NYC  for the Global Film Lens 2008 series. 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 developing his next feature film project Sunrise अरुणोदय (Arunoday) which is one of the 12 shortlisted projects at the Locarno Film Festival’s Open Doors 2011.

Filmography:

As Writer – Director

CLICK ON TITLES FOR MORE

Shakti Timeless
(Documentary / Universal Jazz France – ENGLISH – (60’ France – 2005)
x

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

Hava Aney Dey (Let the Wind Blow)
(Fiction Feature / Santocha Prod, – M Media – 35mm HINDI 90’ France – India 2004)
Berlinale 2004 / *BBC Audience Prize – Commonwealth FF /*Best Film – Durban FF / *Special Jury Prize – Firebird Award Hong Kong Int. FF / 3 Continents / Tokyo Filmex /

x

Saturday Night in Bombay
(Live Concert Documentary / Universal Jazz France- Musical– 55’ France 2004)
x

Cross-Connection
(Short Fiction Script ENGLISH – 1998)
Awarded *Best Script Award – SACEM – Moulin D’Andé
x

La Petite Souris
(Fiction short / No Dialogues/ 35mm – 7’ CRIF /FEMIS – France 1997)
x

La Partition
(Fiction – 35mm / No dialogues / 35mm – 6’. SRF/FEMIS – France 1997)
Selected at the Festival de Film de Paris 1998

x

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

x

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

x

La Derniere…
( Fiction / French / Video – 10′ FEMIS France 1993)
x

As Production Designer / Art Director

Nocturne Indien by Alain Corneau

(Feature film/ FR 90’ France – Alliance productions 1989)
x

Raakh by Aditya Bhattacharya

(Feature film/ Hindi 90’ India- NFDC 1989)
x

Mein Zinda Hoon (I am Alive) by Sudhir Mishra –

(Feature film/ Hindi 90’ India – NFDC 1988)
x

Films

Hava Aney Dey (Fiction Feature 93 min Hindi).

A clip from the film written and directed by Partho Sen-Gupta premièred at the Berlin Int. Film Festival. Best film Award - Durban Int FF, Audience Award - Commonwealth Film Festival, Special Jury mention at the HKIFF

MORE...

Sound Check in Paris

Clip of a documentary film on the Group Remember Shakti in Paris 2007 MORE...

Le Cochon by Partho Sen-Gupta.

French / Short Fiction Feature / 12'27 / 35 mm / 1996

Phillipe lives in a council flat on the outskirts of Paris. He has a lot of problems in life, unemployed, divorced and broke. He owes a lot of money and has to find a solution very quickly.

Film Festivals Selections:
International short film festival of Clemont-Ferrand, France
Locarno International Film Festival, Switzerland
SehSũchte International Student Film Festival, Potsdam-Babelsburg, Germany

La Derniere... by Partho Sen-Gupta on Vimeo.

My first short fiction shot in Paris in 1993 based on Samuel Becket's Krapp's last Tape, featuring Philippe Seurin as Krapp. This film was made during the Université d'été at the FEMIS in Palais de Tokyo, Paris.