8TH MUMBAI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
HOMAGE (2004)
PAUL ZILS - Germany
Paul Zils was born in 1915 at Wuppertal, Germany. German by birth, Zils nevertheless made an immense contribution to documentary filmmaking in India. Soon after completing his secondary education in Dusseldorf in Germany, he worked at UFA in Berlin as a script writer editor and assistant director(1933-38). ln 1939 he reached Hollywood and worked there as an assistant to directors William Dieterle and Max Reinhardt. Zils then began a period of traveling which took him to Japan and Indo-China where he made films as he traveled.
He arrived in India in the middle of World War 11 and had some difficulty convincing the British of his bonafides. At the end of the war he was appointed head of the external unit of the Information Films in India. Here he made a series of brilliant films and in 1948 started his own company Documentary Films of India .
Zils single-handedly gave shape to the independent documentary film movement in India . He helped to found the Short Film guild, which was later, constituted as the Indian Documentary Producers Association (IDPA). He was president of IDPA from 1957 to 1959. He dabbled with feature films Hindustan Hamara (I 950) and Zalzala (1 952) - but soon returned to making documentary films. He made innumerable short films, pure reportage as well as promotional films, but his greatest strength was that he could convince sponsors to finance a pure documentary. In March 1959 he returned to Germany where he started his own film production company Deutsche Condor under which banner he made several films in India . In 1968-69 he was given a job in Ceylon (now in Sri Lanka ) by the West German Government and it was here that he made several films on Buddhism, which had become a powerful influence in his later life. Paul Zils breathed his last in 1979.
MIFF 2004 pays homage to this legend of documentary cinema by presenting some of his masterpieces.
THEVANISHING TRIBE
English/17min./Col./1961
Producer: Art Films of Asia
About the film
A documentary on the Todas, the original inhabitants of the Nilgiris,the Blue Mountains of South India. The origin of the Todas is shrouded in mystery but what is interesting about them is that their traditions and elaborate ceremonies have remained unchanged ever since the days of their forefathers.
THE RIPENING SEED
English/l 5min./B&W/1 955
Producer: Art Films of Asia
About the film
Tracing the growth of a child from its infancy, this documentary narrates the correct method of bringing up children.
NEW LIFE OF A DISPLACED PERSON
English/22 min. /B&W/1 956
Producer: Art Films of Asia
About the film
li@ 2113
The resettlement and rehabilitation of farmers from Pakistan after partition in what used to be the wilds of Tarai region forms the theme of this film.
MAA
English/23min./B&W/1956
Producer: Art Films of Asia
About the film
This film brings to light the little known, yet one of the most human social problems of the country the problem of unmarried mothers and their children.