Buddhadev Dasgupta, one of the most influential and acclaimed figures of Indian cinema, passed away in Kolkata on Thursday from an ongoing renal ailment; he was 77. The Bengali filmmaker was a master manipulator of time and place, his best work filled with stirring beauty, complex characterisations and often dreamlike realities.
Dasgupta’s cinema is steeped in lyricism, filled with visual landscapes that flirt with magical realism, even surrealism at times; he often cited the Spanish master Luis Buñuel as a key influence. His other great creative output was as a poet, and his films often employed elements of fantasy and non-linear narratives synonymous with an expansive creative vision.
Beginning his career in academia, teaching economics in Calcutta, Dasgupta turned to documentary making in the early 1970s (Dholer Raja Khirode Natta, 1973; Fishermen of Sundarban, 1974; Saratchandra, 1975). His first foray into fictional storytelling was Dooratwa (1978), followed by Neem Annapurna (1980), both in his native Bengali tongue. He earned early festival favour with his 1982 feature, Grihajuddha, which scored a Golden Lion nomination at the Venice Film Festival.
Working with equal ease in his nation’s dual languages, Dasgupta took his distinctive cinematic voice to the world; among his most revered films were Bagh Bahadur (1989), Tahader Katha (1992; pictured, above), Uttara (2000), Mondo Meyer Upakhyan (2002), Swapner Din (2004; pictured, below), Kalpurush (2005), Quartet 1 (2012) and Tope (2016). His final film, The Flight (Urojahaj), starring Parno Mittra and Chandan Roy Sanyal, was released in 2020 to to some of the best reviews of his career.
His career was lauded with 12 Indian film sector awards, including four Golden Lotus trophies, and he was twice nominated for the prestigious Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival (Phera, 1988; Charachar, 1994). In 2007, he was bestowed the Golden Athena Award at the Athens International Film Festival; a year later, the Spain International Film Festival announced he would receive their Lifetime Achievement honour.
Dasgupta solidified the standing of Indian cinema on the international stage following the death of Satyajit Ray in 1992, though he never sought comparison to the great Indian auteur. Peers and contemporaries that he held in particular regard included the late Govindan Aravindan and fellow Bengali directors Ritwick Ghatak and Mrinal Sen.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his grief at Dasgupta’s passing via Twitter, writing, “Anguished by the demise of Shri Buddhadeb Dasgupta. His diverse works struck a chord with all sections of society. He was also an eminent thinker and poet.” West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee spoke for many when she tweeted, “Through his works, he infused lyricism into the language of cinema. His death comes as a great loss for the film fraternity.”
He is survived by his wife, filmmaker Sohini Dasgupta, and two daughters.
At the turn of the century, filmmaking in Armenia was all but impossible due to the war torn countryside. In a short space of time, two horrific events impacted the population – the indiscriminate massacre of christian Armenians by Ottoman forces from 1894-96, and the horrific 1914-15 genocide of Armenian nationals by the Turkish rulers, a slaughter that resulted in over 1million Armenian deaths.
Through this period, as silent cinema was taking the world by storm, the besieged people of Armenia were in no state to make or screen films. The one truly landmark film that addressed the Armenian experience was Ravished Armenia (a.k.a. Auction of Soles), a 1919 American film directed by Oscar Apfel, based upon the autobiography of its leading lady, Arshaluys Mardiganian. The film became an international sensation for its shocking depiction of the horrors of the genocide, included the flogging of Armenian women and their nude crucifixion.
On April 16, 1923, the establishment of the Armenian State Committee on Cinema (or ‘Goskino’) represented a bold statement by the ruling Soviet government. Young Russian filmmakers such as Hamo Bek-Nazaryan, Patvakan Barkhudaryan, Levon Kalantar and Amasi Martirosyan forged a distinctive Armenian cinema with films such as the melodrama Namus (1925; pictured, right); the epics Zare (1927) and Khaspush (1928); and, the comedies Shor And Shor-Shor (1926), Mexican Diplomats (1932) and Kikos (1931). The first feature-length Armenian documentary was produced in this period, I. Kraslavsky’s pro-Soviet 1924 work Soviet Armenia, focussing on the nation’s reconstruction in the wake of World War I.
By the late 1920’s, the full-scale studio Armenkino is in operation and the first ‘talkie’, Hamo Bek-Nazaryan’s drama Pepo (1935; pictured, below right) is a hit both domestically and abroad. But for much of the 1930s and 1940s, Armenian filmmaking stagnates. The totalitarian regime strictly controls the content of all art during this period; film output is reduced, with the rare local releases primarily examining the history of conflict of the region (Zangezur, 1938; David-Bek, 1944; and, Aleksandr Dovzhenko’s documentary Native Country, 1945).
It would not be until the mid 1950’s that Armenian cinema began producing independent, ambitious films. The ‘bigscreen epic’ returned, usually centred on such figures as Simon Arshaki Ter-Petrosian, a.k.a. ‘Kamo’; his heroics were depicted in such films as Erazm Karamyan and Stepan Kevorkov’s Personally Known (1958), the first of a trilogy of films about the Bolshevik revolutionary. Artashes Hay-Artyan’s Northern Rainbow (1960) was an early example of a braver political voice in Armenian cinema with its depiction of the 1828 Russian-Persian war and the activities of Russian writer Alexander Griboedov.
A decisive, strong Armenian cinema emerges more fully in the 1960’s, when short filmmakers undertook often incendiary statements about the ruling government. Avdo’s Car, a short that boldly interprets Soviet policies and actions while in power, is censored and forbidden from public screenings; Broken Promise, Tzhvzhik, Fired Lever and The Master And The Servant rile authorities but inspire artists and intellectuals.
Soon, features are embracing the notion that Armenia has suffered ‘between the hammer and the anvil’ in local conflicts - Khoren Abrahamyan’s Brother Saroyans (1969), Grigori Melik-Avakyan’s Seven Songs About Armenia (1967), Henrik Malyan’s We and Our Mountains (1969) and Laert Vagharshyan’s documentary Martiros Saryan (1965) all depict a strong, brave nation defying the impact on its borders of its warring neighbours.
The most important filmmaker in Armenian cinema history came from this period – Sergey Parajanov (pictured, right). Having broken free of the systemic control of Armenian cinema with his 1965 film Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, he exploded onto the world stage with his groundbreaking film The Color Of Pomegranate (1969), a re-edit of his previously banned feature Sayat Nova. However, following its breakout success, Parajanov was persecuted by Soviet officials for his pronounced bisexuality and subversive art and would ultimately serve four years in jail, despite global efforts to free him led by such notables as Yves Saint Laurent, Françoise Sagan, Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Luis Buñuel, Federico Fellini, Michelangelo Antonioni and Andrei Tarkovsky. Parajanov would not direct another feature until The Legend of Suram Fortress, in 1985.
Infrastructure serving Armenia’s film industry receives funding through the 1970s, with both Armenfilm and the Studio of Documentary Films opening state-of-the-art studio space in Yerevan. Armenian cinema of the period expands its narratives, offering social realism (Arman Manaryan’s Our Daily Water, 1976) and the growth of homegrown comedy (Edmond Keosayan’s The Men, 1973; Nerses Hovhannisyan’s Bride of the North, 1975; Dmitri Kesayants’ The Soldier and the Elephant, 1978, and A Man From Olympus, 1976).
As societal pressures stabilize and the economy grows, so to does Armenian cinema. The 1980s launched with Sergey Israyelyan's drama Gikor (1982; pictured, right), based upon Hovhannes Tumanyan's oft-told tale of a boy’s coming-of-age hardships (it was previously filmed in 1934). The decade solidified the reputation of such talents as Albert Mkrtchyan (The Good Half of Life, 1979; The Song of the Old Days, 1982; The Tango of Our Childhood, 1985), leading to the confident emergence of new talents in the 1990s. The reputation of the sector was at an all-time high thanks to such works as Harutyun Khachatryan’s Wind of Forgetfulness (1989) and Mikael Dovlatian’s Labyrinth (1996).
Armenia is not a sector that is booming but it is an industry with strong advocacy and support from the global sector. Modern filmmakers such as Harutyun Khachatryan (Return Of The Poet, 2005), Ruben Kochar (Metamorphoses, 2008), Vardan Hovhannisyan (A Story Of People In War And Peace, 2007), Arshakyan Yelena (An Uninterrupted Flight (2015), Sarik Andreasyan (The Earthquake, 2016), Mger Mkrtchyan (The Line, 2016), Darya Shumakova (Coming Home, 2018) and Alexey Zlobin (Lorik, 2018) are duly respected in their homeland and abroad; comedy is popular with domestic audiences, with Gor Kirakosian’s US co-production Lost and Found in Armenia (2012) and Arman Marutyan’s Super Mother films (2015, 2017) both doing big business.
Sadly, the heart of the Armenfilm production sector has been neglected. The Armenfilm Studios have fallen into disrepair, the 100 year-old facility moribund after private ownership and planned revitalisation projects have failed. A film has not been shot there in over ten years. In March 2019, ownership of the Yerevan site was transferred to a trust company called ‘Kinoket Productions’; the Minister of Economic Development and Investments, Tigran Khachatryan said that over the next 3.5 years, Kinoket will invest 2.5 million euros in the national film company.
Hopefully, a new wave in Armenian film production is not far away…
KEY EVENT: Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival – Yerevan, Armenia; July. Presented each year under the theme, ‘Crossroads of Cultures and Civilizations. From the website: “Years of passion and love for cinema resulted in the establishment of Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival in 2004. Before then, it was just a dream in three people’s minds - Harutyun Khachatryan, Film Director and Festival General Director; Mikayel Stamboltsyan, Film Critic and Program Director; and Susanna Harutyunyan, Film Critic and Artistic Director. The festival's name refers to the fruit native to Armenia, whose Latin name is ‘prunus аrmeniaсa,’ or ‘the Armenian plum.’ A popular symbol of the country, the warm colour of apricot is even found on the tricolored national flag.” CONTACT: 3 Moskovyan Str., 0001, Yerevan. Tel/Fax: 10 52 10 42 (62) Em: info@gaiff.am ; Web: http://www.gaiff.am
INDUSTRY: Armenian National Cinematheque 25A Tbilisyan Highway, 375052 Yerevan Tel: +374-10-28 54 06 Em: filmadaran@yahoo.com
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Adding further momentum towards anticipated Oscar glory, Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite has claimed Best Feature Film at the 13thAsia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) last night in Brisbane, Australia. The breakout international success story of 2019 turned its single nomination into the night’s biggest prize, the first win for Korea in the Best Feature Film category since Lee Chang-dong’s Secret Sunshine took out the inaugural prize in 2007.
Producer Jang Young-hwan accepted the award (pictured, below), a unique handcrafted glass vessel by Brisbane artist Joanna Bone, on the night. The honour also comes as the Asia Pacific Screen Forum, running concurrently with the awards festivities, focuses on 100 years of Korean cinema.
Stories encompassing thirteen countries and areas within the vast Asia Pacific region were awarded, with the majority of the winners also being their country’s Official Submission for the Academy Awards® in the Best International Feature Film Category. Thirty-seven films from 22 countries and areas of the Asia Pacific region achieved nominations for the prestigious awards, drawn from the 289 films in APSA competition.
The Australian sector was honoured with the Best Youth Feature Film, the prize taken out by Rodd Rathjen’s Buoyancy, produced by Causeway Films’ Sam Jennings and Kristina Ceyton. The Khmer and Thai language film, shot in Cambodia, is the story of 14 year-old Cambodian Chakra who leaves home in search of a better life only to be enslaved on a fishing trawler. Co-directors Rachel Leah Jones and Phillipe Bellaiche’s Advocate, an Israeli production that recounts the story of Jewish Israeli human rights lawyer Lea Tsemel, beat the only other local nominee, Daniel Gordon’s The Australian Dream, for the Best Documentary trophy.
Director Kantemir Balagov’s Russian wartime drama Beanpole was the only film to take home two APSA awards - Best Cinematography honouree Ksenia Sereda (pictured, right), the first woman to win the APSA in this category, and Balagov and Alexander Terekhov for Best Screenplay. Best Director winner Adilkhan Yerzhanov, helmer of the Kazakh noir feature A Dark, Dark Man, was the focus of the Director’s Chair session at the inaugural Asia Pacific Screen Forum and accepted the award on the night. It is his second award following the APSA NETPAC Development Prize win in 2013 (now the Young Cinema Award) for Constructors.
Acting trophies will be travelling to new homes in The Philippines and India. Max Eigenmann won Best Actress for her role as a woman fighting to free her life of domestic violence in Raymund Ribay Gutierrez’s Verdict, for acclaimed producer Brilliante Mendoza. Celebrated Indian actor Manoj Baypayee earned Best Actor honours for his role in Devashish Makhija’s Bhonsle; Bajpayee’s win, his second APSA gong, marks a staggering four years in a row that an Indian performer has won in this category.
Beating out highly favoured fellow nominees The Unseen and Mosley, Weathering With You (Japan) was named Best Animated Feature. The film is directed by Makoto Shinkai, who also took home the inaugural APSA in this category in 2007 for 5 Centimetres Per Second.
The APSA International Jury awarded a Jury Grand Prize to Palestinian filmmaker Elia Suleiman, who wrote, directed, produced and starred in APSA-nominated film It Must Be Heaven. Suleiman was also awarded the APSA Jury Grand Prize in 2009 for The Time That Remains. The prestigious Cultural Diversity Award under the patronage of UNESCO was awarded to Rona, Azim’s Mother (Islamic Republic of Iran; Afghanistan) by brothers Jamshid and Navid Mahmoudi. This award represents APSA’s founding partnership with UNESCO, and the shared goals of the two organisations in the protection and preservation of cultural identity.
The winner of the FIAPF (International Federation of Film Producers Associations) Award for Outstanding Achievement in Film goes to Katriel Schory, one of the most respected figures of Israeli cinema. Schory produced more than 150 titles through is production company BelFilms Ltd and served for twenty years as Executive Director of Israel’s main film funding body, where he produced and promoted 300 films. He is credited with revitalising Israel’s film industry through an emphasis on diversity and international co-production treaties, opening the country’s cinema up to the global audiences.
The APSA Young Cinema Award has been won by emerging Indian filmmaker Ridham Janve whose feature The Gold-Laden Sheep and The Sacred Mountain (pictured, above) was also nominated for Best Feature Film and Achievement in Cinematography.
Also announced during the APSA Ceremony were the four recipients of the 10th MPA APSA Academy Film Fund. Created to support the development of new feature film projects by APSA Academy members, the fund awards four development grants of US$25,000 annually. In 2019, the four recipients are Delphine Garde-Mroueh & Nadia Eliewat (UAE/France) for The Station; Rachel Leah Jones (Israel/United States of America) for Reality Check; Catherine Fitzgerald (New Zealand) for Sweet Lips; and, Dechen Roder (Bhutan) for I, The Song.
Geographical isolation from the European centre of early film technology was no hindrance to the development of a strong cinema culture in New Zealand. As far back as 1896, cinema projection was introduced to the North island of Aoteoroa – at the Auckland Opera House as part of the Charles Godfrey Vaudeville Company travelling showcase. By 1910, one of the oldest theatres in the world, The Kings Theatre in Wellington, opened its doors and featured the premiere of the French silent short Two Kids on a Spree in Brussels (1909).
The birth of global cinema ignited the curiosity and ingenuity of New Zealand’s early film craftsmen, and soon the newsreel spools of pioneers A.H. Whitehouse and Joseph Perry were capturing life in The Antipodes on celluloid. Whitehouse directed the earliest footage that still survives from the period – the January 1900 departure of troops for the Boer War, of which fifty feet, or thirty-three seconds, of usable frames remains to this day. They are the very earliest images of a nation bound to Monarchist rule and a society struggling to integrate a centuries-old indigenous culture and young European settlement.
Film production began in 1913, when filmmaker/adventurer Gaston Melies (brother of famed French producer Georges Melies) declared “To get something fresh, set sail on the Pacific for the land of the sunny south.” He would produce three short films highlighting Maori culture and mythology - Loved by a Maori Chieftainess, How Chief Te Ponga Won His Bride and Hinemoa, the first of many adaptations of the local legend (George Tarr directed a 1914 version that is still regarded as New Zealand’s first feature film). A major achievement from the period was the work of James McDonald of the Dominion Museum who, with the blessing of Maori elders, filmed the now famous ‘Scenes Of Life’ series, documenting for the first time tribal life and customs. Some of the surviving reels were restored and screened in 1986, among them Scenes at the Rotorua Hui (1920), Scenes of Maori Life on the Whanganui River (1921; pictured, above) and Scenes of Maori Life on the East Coast (1923).
Newsreel and travelogue productions flourished, with the occasional silent feature being produced, such as Barry Marschel’s adaptation of the nationalistic ballad The Kid From Timaru (1917) and Australian director Harrington Reynold’s hugely-popular The Birth Of New Zealand (1922), which featured re-enactments of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi and Captain Cook’s landing. Filmmaking endeavours were springing up in most major cities, including Maoriland Films in Otaki, producers of the hit Chaplin homage Charlie’s Capers (1921).
Key to the sector’s growth in the 1920’s was ex-pat Brit, Rudall Hayward. Having relocated to New Zealand at a young age, Hayward applied his passion for the new artform in a most unique way; with his colleague Lee McLeod Hill, Hayward devised the ‘Community Comedy’ films. Travelling from town-to-town, the pair would shoot some slapstick footage with a rudimentary storyline featuring the townsfolk, and return ten days later to screen it. It became a source of national pride to Depression-era New Zealanders to have Hayward or Hill visit their township. (Pictured, above; an advertisement produced to encourage participation in the Community Comedy initiative)
With his second feature, Rudall Hayward would create one of the most beloved New Zealand films of all time – Rewi’s Last Stand (1925; pictured, right),the story of the bloody confrontation at Orakau during the New Zealand Wars of the 1860s when 300 Maori defied five assaults by 2,000 British troops. He would continue to shoot films of a proud, nationalistic flavour, including The Te Kooti Trail (1927), The Bush Cinderella (1928), his first sound film, a bigscreen version of the popular radio serialOn A Friendly Road(1936) and the blockbuster release of a remade sound version of Rewi’s Last Stand (1940). His passing in 1974 brought a day of national mourning and honoured the commitment and good grace he always showed for his adopted homeland.
The advent of sound in a January 1930 ‘Coubray-tone News’ newsreel from director/journalist Ted Coubray (who had directed the beloved romance Under The Southern Cross in 1927 with Danish filmmaker, Gustav Pauli), the 1929 opening of the 3500-seat Civic Theatre picture palace in Auckland and the establishment of the National Film Unit (N.F.U.) in 1940 were positive signs for the region. The global love of cinema as a social event never waned – imported films, first from the U.K. and then from Hollywood, were hugely popular (though often viewed with disdain by the conservative censorship regime, who would ban Brando’s The Wild One in ’54); screenings of the N.F.U.-produced newsreels ‘Weekly Review’ and ‘Pictorial Parade’, that captured New Zealanders at play, became standing-room only events.
But feature film production all but ceased; incredibly, between 1940 and 1970, only three feature films were produced. Broken Barrier (1952), Runaway (1964), Don’t Let it Get You (1966), directed by John O’Shea for his Pacific Film Unit shingle (later renamed Pacific Film Productions), kept the feature film industry afloat over three decades. Their investment in the industry’s future included financing a slate of documentaries, which allowed technicians and craftsmen to hone their skills. Other forms of New Zealand cinematic ingenuity sprung forth, notably Dunedin-based animator Fred O’Neill, whose stop-motion puppet masterpiece Phantasm (1960) won an amateur filmmaker’s award at the Cannes Film Festival (pictured, above; O'Neill with his creations, photo:Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision.)
The wave of social change that was sweeping the world reignited the New Zealand film industry in the early 1970s. A short documentary made for the World Expo called This is New Zealand (1970) became a sensation in the nation’s cinemas. In 1972, the launch of the Wellington Film Festival and the publication of the magazine Alternative Cinema contributed to film’s resurgence. Maori social and cultural issues were being pushed to the fore; the six-part television documentary Tangata Whenua: the People of the Land (1974) became a landmark small-screen production.
The first New Zealand hit movie in nearly thirty years was Roger Donaldson’s Sleeping Dogs (1977), a brutal, politically-charged tale that featured names that would shape and define New Zealand cinema output foe decades to come – Australian-born Donaldson (Smash Palace, 1981; The World’s Fastest Indian, 2005; McLaren, 2017); actor Sam Neill; industry figurehead Ian Mune (Came A Hot Friday, 1985; The Grasscutter, 1990; What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted?, 1999); and, indigenous industry trailblazer, Don Selwyn (The Maori Merchant Of Venice, 2002).
After years of inactivity, the industry was jolted from its slumber and the government responded with the formation of the New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC) in 1978. Production surged and the ingrained ‘cultural cringe’ that a generation of domestic audiences had developed having not seen themselves on the silver screen began to crumble. In the early years of the NZFC’s reign, the tax breaks afforded investors led to one of its most prolific and internationally recognised phases of production. This period included Paul Maunder’s Sons for the Return Home (1979); Michael Black’s Pictures (1981); Sam Pillsbury’s The Scarecrow (1982), the first New Zealand film to screen at Cannes in the Director’s Fortnight section; Vincent Ward’s Vigil (1984) and The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey (1988); Rolf Hadrich’s Among the Cinders (1984); John Reid’s French-New Zealand co-shoot, Leave All Fair (1985), with John Gielgud and Jane Birkin; Geoff Murphy’s cult hits Goodbye Pork Pie (1981), Utu (1983), The Quiet Earth (1984) and Never Say Die (1988); Richard Riddiford’s Arriving Tuesday (1986); British director Mike Newell’s New Zealand/U.K. co-production, Bad Blood (1981); and, the prolific hits of genre director John Laing, including Beyond Reasonable Doubt (1981), The Lost Tribe (1983), Other Halves (1984) and Dangerous Orphans (1985). The decade saw the release of the one of the biggest films in New Zealand’s cinema-going history – the late Murray Ball’s rough-around-the-edges animated adaptation of his iconic comic strip, Footrot Flats: The Dog’s Tale (1987; pictured, above).
Of course, it was also the decade in which a young, slightly twisted filmmaker named Peter Jackson unlaunched his unique brand of horror comedy in the landmark gross-out low-budgeters Bad Taste (1987), Meet The Feebles (1989) and Braindead (1992), films that paved the way for one of the most successful international directing careers of all time. By Jackson’s side for much of the way was Costa Botes, who co-created the hilarious mock-umentary on the nation’s film history, Forgotten Silver (1995) before a long career as a factual filmmaker (Saving Grace, 1998; Struggle No More, 2006; Act of Kindness, 2015).
This growth in production and financing also allowed for native Maori and Polynesian islander films to develop. In 1986, a collective of Maori artists, elders and community representatives called Te Manu Aute was established, and from its commitment grew films such as Merata Mitu’s documentary Patu! (1983) and her feature debut Mauri (1988); Mike Walker’s Kingpin (1985), Barry Barclay’s much-loved Ngati (1987) and Te Rua (1991) and Lee Tamahori’s adaptation of the Alan Duff bestseller, Once Were Warriors (1994), which became a cultural phenomenon upon release. The increased profile and acceptance of Maori culture onscreen led to the NZFC co-financing Niki Caro’s Whale Rider in 2002, a global hit that earned young star, Keisha Castle-Hughes (pictured, top) a Best Actress Oscar nomination.
‘Kiwi’ film output in the new millennium has reflected an industry secure in its native cinematic voice and innovative enough to attract global productions to its unique locales and facilities. Filmmakers who have impacted global cinema in the last two decades that have sprung from the creative community of Aoteoroa include Jane Campion, two-time Palme D’or winner at the Cannes Film Festival, for her short Peel (1982) and her Oscar winning worldwide hit, The Piano (1993) and most recently, the critically acclaimed TV series, Top of The Lake (2015-17); Gaylene Preston (Ruby And Rata, 1990; Bread And Roses, 1994; Perfect Strangers, 2003; Home by Christmas, 2010; My Year with Helen, 2017); Robert Sarkies (Scarfies, 1999, Out Of The Blue, 2006, starring Karl Urban); Christine Jeffs (Rain, 2001; Sylvia, 2003; Sunshine Cleaning, 2009); and the return home of Vincent Ward (River Queen, 2005; Rain Of The Children, 2008.) In the wake of the …Rings juggernaut, a new generation of directors are emerging, including Chris Graham (Sione’s Wedding, 2006; The Ferryman, 2007), Toa Fraser (No.2, 2007; Dean Spanley, 2009; The Dead Lands, 2014); Glenn Standring (The Truth About Demons, 2000; Perfect Creature, 2006), Dana Rotberg (White Lies, 2013), Jonathan King (Black Sheep, 2008; Realiti, 2014) and James Napier Robertson (The Dark Horse, 2014), with star Cliff Curtis (pictured, above).
The latest local lad to follow in the Hollywood footsteps of countrymen Peter Jackson, Andrew Adamson (Shrek, 2001; The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe, 2005) and Martin Campbell (GoldenEye, 1995; The Mask of Zorro, 1998; Casino Royale, 2006) is Taiki Waititi, who arrived on the scene with the Oscar-nominated short Two Cars One Night (2005) followed by a parade of crowdpleasers - Eagle vs Shark (2008), Boy (2010), What We Do In The Shadows (2014) and Hunt For The Wilderpeople (2016). In 2017, he helms the MCU blockbuster, Thor: Ragnarok.
Key Events: New Zealand International Film Festival – Various cities, New Zealand; from July. The New Zealand International Film Festival is the banner under which four key New Zealand cities hold their annual film events – Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. In addition to these events, a travelling roadshow of selected titles plays to smaller regional centres from July through to November. https://www.nziff.co.nz
Contact: New Zealand Film Commission Level 3, 119 Ghuznee St Wellington, New Zealand Tel: (+64 4) 382 7680 Email: info@nzfilm.co.nz Web: www.nzfilm.co.nz
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Saturday, June 12, 2021 at 8:12PM 
Beginning his career in academia, teaching economics in Calcutta, Dasgupta turned to documentary making in the early 1970s (Dholer Raja Khirode Natta, 1973; Fishermen of Sundarban, 1974; Saratchandra, 1975). His first foray into fictional storytelling was Dooratwa (1978), followed by Neem Annapurna (1980), both in his native Bengali tongue. He earned early festival favour with his 1982 feature, Grihajuddha, which scored a Golden Lion nomination at the Venice Film Festival. 
Dasgupta solidified the standing of Indian cinema on the international stage following the death of Satyajit Ray in 1992, though he never sought comparison to the great Indian auteur. Peers and contemporaries that he held in particular regard included the late Govindan Aravindan and fellow Bengali directors Ritwick Ghatak and Mrinal Sen. 
