- Source: Paul Zils
Paul Zils (18 June 1915 – 30 March 1979) was a German-Indian documentary filmmaker who played a major role in the development of the Indian documentary filmmaking movement.
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. 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. 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. 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, and contributed regularly to the leading art journal of the era, MARG. 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. In 1958, he returned to West Germany and made flms under the Deutsche Condor Films lavel and later made films in Sri Lanka.
He became a naturalised Indian citizen during the 1950s during his time in India where he was based in Bombay.
Filmography
= Directed and/or Produced by Him
=1975: For a Better Tomorrow
1970: Time and the Nation
1968: Meditation
1964: Glaube und Leben der Hindus
1963: Alles in Fluß (Kurz-Dokumentarfilm)
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
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
=1937: Fanny Elssler
1937: Sieben Ohrfeigen
1936: Glückskinder
References
External links
"Collections Search | BFI | British Film Institute". collections-search.bfi.org.uk. Retrieved 2023-11-13.
Paul Zils at IMDb
The Vanishing Tribe
Jalagon--Ein Dorf im Ikken Indien
Buddhismus in Ceylon
Meditation