Paul Zills
Born
Paul Zills

June 18, 1915
Wuppertal, Germany
DiedMarch 30, 1979
Munich
OccupationFilmmaker

Paul Zils (18 June 1915 – 30 March 1979) was a German documentary filmmaker who played a major role in the development of the Indian documentary filmmaking movement.[1]

Career

Early in his career, Zils reportedly worked for UFA, before leaving Germany. During World War II, he was interned in a POW camp as a German national in Bali and then brought to India where he was interned in Bihar.[2] In 1946, Zils reportedly first began working in India as director of the external unit of the Information Films of India and then for a dozen of years after independence, working both for the new Indian government and for international institutions and multinationals, shuch as Shell Film Unit.[3][4] For example, Zils worked for the documentary unit of the United Nations to produce films acquired by the Government of India for widespread distribution using mobile projectors, such as Kurvandi Road and A Tiny Thing Brings Death.[5] He made films in the Major Industries, Life in India, and Folk Dances series for Burmah-Shell Oil. Zils established the independent production company, Art Films of India.

Zils sponsored the publication of a quarterly magazine, Indian Documentary,[6] and contributed regularly to the leading art journal of the era, MARG.[7] He also provided training to a number of associates and colleagues who went on to become noted filmmakers themselves, such as Fali Balimoria whose The House That Ananda Built was the first Indian documentary to be nominated for the Oscars.[8] In 1958, he returned to West Germany and made flms under the Deutsche Condor Films lavel and later made films in Sri Lanka.[9][10]

Filmography

Directed and/or Produced by Him[11]

  • 1975: For a Better Tomorrow
  • 1970: Time and the Nation
  • 1968: Meditation
  • 1963: Buddhismus in Ceylon
  • 1961: Jalagon--Ein Dorf im Ikken Indien
  • 1958: The Vanishing Tribe
  • 1958: Oraons of Bihar
  • 1958: In Your Hands, Family Planning Association of India, director Fali Balimoria
  • 1958: Worship Dances of Malabar, part of the Folk Dances series
  • 1957: Martial Dances of Malabar, part of the Folk Dances series
  • 1957: New Life of a Displaced Person
  • 1957: Maa, the Story of an Unmarried Person
  • 1957: Fifty Miles from Poona
  • 1957: A Family in Bangalore, part of the Life in India series
  • 1957: Fisherfolk of Bombay
  • 1956: Growing Coconuts, in the 1956 Cannes short film competition[12]
  • 1956: The School
  • 1956: Iron and Steel
  • 1956: The Ripening Seed
  • 1955: Textiles
  • 1955: Agriculture
  • 1954: Ujala
  • 1952: Shabash
  • 1952: Zalzala
  • 1950: Our India
  • 1950: Hindustan Hamara
  • 1949: Two Worlds
  • 1949: White Magic
  • 1949: A Tiny Thing Brings Death
  • 1949: The Last Jewel
  • 1949: General Motors in India
  • 1948: Kurvandi Road
  • 1947: Child
  • 1948: Mother-Child-Community
  • 1947: India's Struggle for National Shipping
  • 1947: Community
  • 1945: Bombay, the Story of Seven Isles

As Second Unit Director[11]

References

  1. ↑ https://indiancine.ma/AKTW/info
  2. ↑ Vasudevan, Ravi (2020-01-01). ""In India's Life and Part of It"". Petrocinema: 183.
  3. ↑ Vidal, Denis (2003). "The uncertainties of patronage about the origins of documentary cinema in India and in the British Empire". Hal: Open Science.
  4. ↑ Deprez, Camille (2013). "The Films Division of India, 1948–1964: The Early Days and the Influence of the British Documentary Film Tradition". Film History. 25 (3): 149–173. doi:10.2979/filmhistory.25.3.149. ISSN 0892-2160.
  5. ↑ "Films in India show the road ahead Courier: A Publication of UNESCO". unesdoc.unesco.org. June 1, 1950. Retrieved 2023-11-13.
  6. ↑ Gokulsing, K. Moti; Dissanayake, Wimal (2013). Routledge handbook of Indian cinemas. Routledge handbooks. London New York, NY: Routledge, Taylor & Francis group. ISBN 978-0-415-67774-5.
  7. ↑ Singh, Devika (2013). "Approaching the Mughal Past in Indian Art Criticism: The case of MARG (1946—1963)". Modern Asian Studies. 47 (1): 167–203. ISSN 0026-749X.
  8. ↑ "Films in Search of a Movement". Himal Southasian. 1997-12-01. Retrieved 2024-01-01.
  9. ↑ "Documenting the documentary". www.sundaytimes.lk. Retrieved 2024-01-01.
  10. ↑ "Preserving the documentary heritage". sundaytimes.lk. Retrieved 2024-01-01.
  11. 1 2 "Paul Zils | Director, Second Unit Director or Assistant Director". IMDb. Retrieved 2023-11-13.
  12. ↑ "Paul ZILS". Festival de Cannes (in French). Retrieved 2023-11-19.
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