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 Source:

1945: Bombay, the Story of Seven Isles 1947: Community 1947: India's Struggle for National Shipping 1948: Mother-Child-Community 1947: Child 1948: Kurvandi Road 1949: General Motors in India 1949: The Last Jewel 1949: A Tiny Thing Brings Death 1949: White Magic 1949: Two Worlds 1950: Hindustan Hamara 1950: Our India 1952: Zalzala 1952: Shabash 1954: Ujala 1955: Agriculture 1955: Textiles 1956: The Ripening Seed 1956: Iron and Steel 1956: The School 1956: Growing Coconuts, in the 1956 Cannes short film competition 1957: Fisherfolk of Bombay 1957: A Family in Bangalore, part of the Life in India series 1957: Fifty Miles from Poona 1957: Maa, the Story of an Unmarried Person 1957: New Life of a Displaced Person 1957: Martial Dances of Malabar, part of the Folk Dances series 1958: Worship Dances of Malabar, part of the Folk Dances series 1958: In Your Hands, Family Planning Association of India, director Fali Balimoria 1958: Oraons of Bihar 1958: The Vanishing Tribe 1961: Jalagon--Ein Dorf im Ikken Indien 1963: Buddhismus in Ceylon 1963: Alles in Fluß (Kurz-Dokumentarfilm) 1964: Glaube und Leben der Hindus 1968: Meditation 1970: Time and the Nation 1975: For a Better Tomorrow

As Second Unit Director Source: 1936: Glückskinder 1937: Sieben Ohrfeigen 1937: Fanny Elssler