Partho Sen-Gupta (also spelled Partho Sen Gupta or Partho Sengupta pronounced ''Partho Shen-Goopto'') is an independent

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

and

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

. He is an Australian and French dual citizen, of Indian origin. He has a post-graduate degree in Film Direction from the FEMIS.

Biography

Sen-Gupta was born in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

(Bombay), on 2 September 1965. He has been working in cinema since the age of seventeen, starting his career as an apprentice in the art department, in the studios of "

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

" in

. He worked with an Indian art director Bijon Dasgupta on the sets of big-budget commercial Hindi films like '' Saagar'' and '' Mr. India'' among others. After having spent a few years finishing his apprenticeship, he became assistant art director. In 1988, he worked on his first film as

art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

production designer In film and television, a production designer is the individual responsible for the overall aesthetic of the story. The production design gives the viewers a sense of the time period, the plot location, and character actions and feelings. Work ...

in an Indian art movie called Main Zinda Hoon (''I am Alive'') directed by

Sudhir Mishra Sudhir Mishra (born 22 January 1959) is an Indian filmmaker. His most notable films include '' Dharavi'' (1992), '' Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi'' (2003), '' Chameli'' (2004), and '' Serious Men'' (2020). His work has been recognised with three nat ...

. He then set up his design studio, working on numerous advertising films and art movies, designing sets and specializing in real-time SFX. He won the Best Art Director Award in 1989. He also worked as production designer on the French film ''

Nocturne Indien ''Nocturne indien'' is a 1989 French film directed by Alain Corneau, based on the novel '' Notturno Indiano'' by Italian writer Antonio Tabucchi. Cast and roles * Jean-Hugues Anglade as Rossignol / Xavier * Clémentine Célarié as Christine * ...

'' directed by

Alain Corneau Alain Corneau (7 August 1943 – 30 August 2010) was a French film director and writer. Corneau was born in Meung-sur-Loire, Loiret. Originally a musician, he worked with Costa-Gavras as an assistant, which was also his first opportunity to work ...

and shot in Mumbai. In 1993, he was selected to do a two-month summer workshop at FEMIS, the French film institute in Paris. During the workshop, he directed his first short film, "La Derniere..." based on

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish writer of novels, plays, short stories, and poems. Writing in both English and French, his literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal, and Tragicomedy, tra ...

's radio play ''

Krapp's Last Tape ''Krapp's Last Tape'' is a 1958 one-act play, in English, by Samuel Beckett. With a cast of one man, it was written for Northern Irish actor Patrick Magee (actor), Patrick Magee and first titled "Magee monologue". It was inspired by Beckett's e ...

''. He was then awarded a three-and-a-half-year full scholarship to study film direction at the same school. During his film school years, he made four short fiction films ''Le Cochon'', ''La Partition'', ''Trajet Discontinu'', and ''La Petite Souris'' which took him to different European film festivals and won awards. After graduation in 1997, he directed his first feature film '' Hava Aney Dey'' (''Let the Wind Blow''), which premiered at the

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

in 2004. It was selected in many international film festivals and won awards. The film was part of the Global Lens 2008 series of the

Global Film Initiative The Global Film Initiative (GFI) was a non-profit film organization that supported cinematic works from developing nations and promotes cross-cultural understanding through use of film and non-traditional learning resources. Its most notable progr ...

. and premiered at the

MoMA The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

NYC, in January 2008. In 2005, he made a documentary film ''The Way of Beauty'' on the Indo-fusion group

Shakti Shakti (Devanagari: शक्ति, IAST: Śakti; 'energy, ability, strength, effort, power, might, capability') in Hinduism, is the "Universal Power" that underlies and sustains all existence. Conceived as feminine in essence, Shakti refer ...

which was released on the DVD in May 2006. In 2008, his new feature film project ''

Sunrise Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning, at the start of the Sun path. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon. Terminology Although the S ...

'', was selected among 30 other international projects at the 11th Pusan Promotion Plan (3 to 6 October 2008) at the

Pusan International Film Festival The Busan International Film Festival (BIFF; ), formerly the Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF), held annually in Haeundae District, Busan, South Korea, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia. The first festival, held from ...

. ''Sunrise'' was the only Indian project in the selection. ''

'' was completed and released in October 2014 and premiered at the 2014

Busan International Film Festival The Busan International Film Festival (BIFF; ), formerly the Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF), held annually in Haeundae District, Busan, South Korea, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia. The first festival, held fro ...

and numerous international film festivals, received awards and international critical acclaim. In 2017, Sen-Gupta wrote and directed his first Australian feature film '' Slam''. It was an official selected project at the 2016

International Film Festival Rotterdam International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, focused on independent and experimental films. The inaugural festival took place in June 1972, ...

's CineMart and the 2016

Berlinale The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

Co-oproduction Market. The film starring Adam Bakri, from the Academy Awards nominated film '' Omar'' and award winning Australian actress Rachael Blake, was filmed in October and November 2017 in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. '' Slam'' was selected in the Official Selection Competition at the 2018

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (BNFF), or PÖFF (Pimedate Ööde filmifestival), is an annual film festival held since 1997 in Tallinn, the capital city of Estonia. PÖFF is one of the largest film festivals in Northern Europe. In 2014, it was ...

and had its world premiere on 27 November 2018. Sen-Gupta lectured for the Masters in Directing at the Australian Film, Television, Radio School AFTRS from 2021 to 2023.

Advocacy

In December 2023, alongside 50 other international filmmakers like

Claire Denis Claire Denis (; ; born 21 April 1946) is a French film director and screenwriter. Her feature film '' Beau Travail'' (1999) has been called one of the greatest films of the 1990s and of all time. Her work has dealt with themes of colonial and p ...

, Christian Petzold,

Apichatpong Weerasethakul Apichatpong Weerasethakul (; ; , born 16 July 1970) is a Thai independent film director, screenwriter, film producer and Professor at Tama Art University in Tokyo. Working outside the strict confines of the Thai film studio system, Apichatpong h ...

Kiyoshi Kurosawa is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, film critic, author, actor, and a former professor at Tokyo University of the Arts (2005-2023). Noted for his psychological films that often focus on ambiguous narratives and on their characters' i ...

etc. Sen-Gupta signed an open letter published in ''

Libération (), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968 in France, May 1968. Initially positioned on the far left of Fr ...

'' demanding a ceasefire and an end to the killing of civilians amid the 2023 Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, and for a humanitarian corridor into Gaza to be established for humanitarian aid, and the release of hostages.

Filmography

Writer/Director

* Slam - 2018/Fiction/115 min/English *

- 2014/Fiction/85 min/Marathi *The Way of Beauty - 2006/Documentary/180 min/English * Hava Aney Dey (''Let the Wind Blow'') - 2004/Fiction/93 min/Hindi *Trajet Discontinu - 1998/Fiction/26 min/French *Le Cochon - 1996/Fiction/12min/French

Production Designer/Art Director

- 1989/Fiction/110 min/French *

Raakh () is a 1989 Indian Hindi-language action crime film directed by Aditya Bhattacharya, starring Aamir Khan and Supriya Pathak in the lead roles with Pankaj Kapur, Gajanan Bangera and Jagdeep. The film was Aamir Khan's first movie after ''Qa ...

- 1989/Fiction/153 min/Hindi * Main Zinda Hoon - 1988/Fiction/120 min/Hindi

References

External links

*
Official Website2004 interview in Nantes, Festival de 3 continentsArunoday - Sunrise - A film by Partho Sen-Gupta
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sen-Gupta, Partho 1965 births Living people Film directors from Mumbai Hindi-language film directors Bengali male artists Indian production designers 20th-century Indian designers La Fémis alumni