|
1ST
BOMBAY INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
FESTIVAL
JURY (1990)
|
JEHANGIR BHOWNAGARY
|
|
|
|
JEHANGIR BHOWNAGARY - Once a leading Indian journal
very truly described Jehangir Shapurji Bhownagary
as a one-man institution. Bhownagary is a magician,
a stage actor and producer, a writer, a painter, a
potter, a sculptor, a ceramist, a maker of film-makers,
and a film-maker himself. He has to his list of honours,
the convetous Padmashree bestowed upo him by the Government
of India in 1968 for his precious service. Born in
Bombay in 1921, Jean (as he is to his friends ) was
educated at Bombay and Paris. During World War II,
he worked for Reuters, All Indian Radio and was a
Fellow of the University of Bombay. 1945 saw him writing
commentaries and scripts for Information Films of
India and the Cartoon Film Unit. The following year,
he was appointed Assistant Producer and was Editor
of the Indian News Parade. The UNESCO was his next
stop, which he joined in 1948 as Programme Assistant
at Paris. Later he became an Executive Officer in
the Office of Director General Torres Bodet. He returned
to India in 1954 as Deputy Chief Producer in Films
Division and held this post in the absence of any
chief Producer. It was during this time that the animation
film unit and the Film & Television Institute of India
were set up. He went back to UNESCO as Programme Specialist
in Mass Communications (1957-65). At the request of
the late Mrs, Indira Gandhi, he took up the past of
Chief Advisor (Films) in the India Ministry of Information
and Broadcasting. He was Chairman of the Jury for
short films at International Film Festival of India
held in New Delhi in 1965, so also at the Aurecy Animation
film Festival in 1979. He was back with the UNESCO
during 1967-79, where he directed the Press and Audio-Visual
information Division. Bhownagary is a a member of
the prestigious inner Magic Circle, London, and is
an elected National Councillor of the French Association
of Prestidigitators. The films he has made or produced
have won numerous global awards. |
|
ADOOR
GOPALAKRISHNAN
|
|
|
| ADOOR
GOPALAKRISHNAN - Introduced to the stage at the tender
age of eight, Adoor Gopalakrishnan had produced over
twenty critically-acclaimed plays - besides writing
half a dozen of them - by the time he completed his
university education. Gopalakrishnan was born in 1941,
into a family which traditionally patronised and practiced
the well-known dance form Kathakalli performed in
Kerala. He quit his Govt. post in 1962 for joining
the FTII. A recipient of a merit scholarship, he graduated
in script writing and direction in 1965. Soon after,
he founded Chitralekha Film Society in Trivandrum,
pioneering the film society movement in Kerala. More
significantly, he launched a co-operative for production,
distribution and exhibition of artistic films. Gopalakrishnan
has written and directed six feature films and over
two dozen documentaries and short films. Among the
awards he has bagged are the prestigious BFI Award
for his film Elippathayam (Rat Trap), FIPRESCI Prize
for Mukhamukham (Face to Face), and Anantaram (Monologue)
at the New Delhi and Karlovy Vary film festival. He
has won the National Award for the best direction
thrice and for the best screenplay tweice. He has
also penned a book on cinema (In Malayalam, a language
spoken in the Southern state of Kerala) - Cine Mayude
Lokam(The World of Cinema), which fetched him a National
Award for the best book on cinema in 1983. In 1988,
he was honored at the Nantes Film Festival as one
of the outstanding film-makers of the three continents
of Asia Africa and Latin America. He was nationally
honored with the little of Padmashree in 1984. Gopalakrishnan
was a member of the Working Group on National Film
Policy (1979-80), a director of the National Film
Development Corporation (1980-83), and has been a
member of the Advisory Committee of the National Film
Archives of India since 1988. He also served as Chairman
of the FTII, his alms mater (1987-89). Gopalakrishnan
has also served on the juries of the International
Film Festival of India in 1983, and the Venice Internatioanl
Film Festival in 1988. His significant cinematographic
oeuvre also includes. Swayamvaram (One's Own Choice),
Kodiyettam(Ascent), Mathilukal(The Walls), and Water/Ganga
which he shot for painter Viswanadhan, which one Grand
Prix, Cinema du Reel(1986), besides several other
awards. |
|
ISHU
PATEL
|
|
|
| ISHU
PATEL - With a certain goal in mind, Ishu Patel forged
ahead with his single-minded pursuit. His relentless
drive and innate talent set his dream of working at
the national Film Board of Canada, the home of Norman
Mclaren, within his reach. A multiple award-winning
filmmaker, Patel has gained International recognition
for his innovative animation techniques. Prior to
joining the National Film Board in 1970, Ptel Studied
at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Baroda, India the National
Institute of Design in Ahmedabad, India and the Allgemeine
Gewerbeschule in Basel, Switzerland. He won a Rockefeller
scholarship in 1968 to study in the US, but deferred
it until he was able to join the NFB. His major award-winning
films include: Bead Game (the British Academy Award-1978),
also nominated for Oscar in the same year. After Life
won the Canadian Film Awards and the Grand Prix Annecy,
France - both in 1978. Paradise / Paradise (1984)
was warded the Silver Bear at Berlin Film Festival
in 1985 and the First Prize at Los Angeles International
Film Festival, also nominated for an Oscar. His Top
Priority (1981), has been screened time and again
at festivals in Poland, Germany and Italy. Patel's
next film Island is a dramatic fantasy which moves
from live actin to animated scenes of wonder. |
NEXT
PAGE >>
|
|
 |
