I am a writer, director and producer. I live and work in Sydney, on the unceded lands of the Gadigal and Wangal people of the Eora nation.
I have a post-graduate degree in Cinema (specialisation in Film Direction) from La FEMIS, the French national film school.
I have made three feature films, Let the Wind Blow (2004), Sunrise (2014) and Slam (2018) (and three shorts and documentaries). They have screened at numerous international film festivals like the Berlinale, Tribeca, BFI London, Rotterdam, Busan, Sitges, Fantasia, Munich, Tallinn, Sydney, Melbourne, Hong Kong, Tokyo etc. and won awards.
They have had arthouse theatrical releases in Germany, France, the US, Australia, China, the UK and India. They have had SVOD acquisitions with Netflix, MUBI, Binge, Stan, SBS, 7plus, Sooner.
My films have been well-received critically with outstanding reviews in The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Indiewire, LA times, The Age, The Australian, The Guardian, Libération, and L’Humanité, among others. (read more)
FEATURE FILMS
“SLAM is very impressive. It tells an important story in a convincing and enthralling way. I’m giving it four stars.”
– David Stratton (The Australian)
Slam 116′ (2019) English
with Adam Bakri, Rachael Blake, Rebecca Breeds, Darina Al Joundi
My third feature film, an Australian-French coproduction, premiered at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, and has since screened at the Sydney and Melbourne FF among others. The film had its Australian premiere at the 2019 Sydney Film Festival in the Special Presentations at the State Theatre. The film was released in selected cinemas in Australia & France to rave reviews. It was acquired by Foxtel Binge, 7+, MUBI and currently streaming on STAN in Australia.
Writer & Director – Partho Sen-Gupta
Cinematography – Bonnie Elliott
Editor – Annick Raoul
Rotten Tomatoes
LetterBoxed
Trailer
“A surreal and haunting procedural.”
– Elizabeth Kerr (The Hollywood Reporter)
Sunrise 87′ (2014) Marathi
with Adil Hussain, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Gulnaaz Ansari, Esha Amlani
My second feature film premiered at the Busan Int. Film Festival and since screened at Tribeca, Munich, BFI London, Sitges, Fantasia etc. It won the Best Film and the Best Cinematography Awards at the 2015 Durban Film Festival, Black Tulip for Best Film at the Imagine Film festival and an Honorable Jury Mention at the Munich Film festival. It was nominated at the Asia-Pacific Screen Academy Awards. It received excellent reviews from critics worldwide. SUNRISE was released in arthouse theatres in Germany, France and the US and was acquired by Netflix.
Writer & Director – Partho Sen-Gupta
Dialogues – Yogesh Vinayak Joshi
Cinematography – Jean-Marc Ferriere
Editor – Annick Raoul
Rotten Tomatoes
Letterboxed
Trailer
Let the Wind Blow 93′ (2004) Hindi
with Aniket Vishwasrao, Nishikant Kamat, Rajshri Thakur
My first feature film, premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival. It was screened at the MoMA, SFMoMA and at the Guggenheim, Berlin and toured the US as part of the ‘Global Lens‘ of the Global Film Initiative (SF). It won BBC Audience Prize at Commonwealth FF *Best Film – Durban FF / Special Jury Mention – Firebird Award Hong Kong Int. FF Re-released on MUBI Dec 22.
Director – Partho Sen-Gupta
Writer – Partho Sen-Gupta & Yogesh Vinayak Joshi
Cinematography – Jean-Marc Ferriere
Editor – Annick Raoul
Letterboxed
Trailer
DOCUMENTARIES
The Way of Beauty – 180′ (2006) English
This Universal Music DVD features a 60-minute documentary (Shakti Timeless) on the band starting from the early seventies.
Shakti Timeless 60′ – documentary – English
Shakti Timeless tells the engaging story of Indo-western music group Shakti, who, in the mid-seventies, pioneered an innovative and highly influential East-meets-West musical fusion. The group, whose name means creative intelligence, beauty and power, consisted of legendary British jazz guitarist John McLaughlin, North Indian tabla master Zakir Hussain, violinist L. Shankar and ghatan player T.H. ‘Vikku’ Vinayakram, both from South India. The group was reformed in 1997 under the name ‘Remember Shakti’ with new talents V. Selvaganesh who replaced his father Vikku and the young prodigy ‘Mandolin’ U. Shrinivas who replaced Shankar.
Through interviews with the original founding members, the film reveals the quest for transcendent music that led to the group’s formation. The interviews are interwoven with rare and exquisite music footage from the seventies to the present day.
The film was screened at the Durban International Film Festival 2007 from 20 June to 1 July 2007.
The DVD also includes:
Sound check 45′ – sound check footage of Remember Shakti before a Concert at the New Morning in Paris 2004
Saturday Night in Bombay 55′ (Mumbai, India) in 2000
Two Live Concerts of the band shot with the original band (with L. Shankar & “Vikku” T. H Vinayakram from New Morning 1976 (Montreux Jazz Festival) as well as Montreux Jazz 2004. Also contains clips from Mahavishnu Orchestra in Syracuse, U.S. 1972.
SHORTS
La Partition 6′ (1997) Silent
Selected at the Festival de Film de Paris 1998
Trajet Discontinu 26′ (1996) French
won *Jury Award-Festival Premier Plans d’Angers 97’ /*Special Jury Prize Arte Des Parfums CERRUTTI 1881
Le Cochon 12′ (1995) French
Selected at the Locarno IFF, Clermont-Ferrand FF, Aix-en-Provence FF, Potsdam-Babelsburg FF