Biju Viswanath is an Indian film director, director of photography, film editor and screenwriter. Across various genres, he has made numerous films in different languages, notably, English, Tamil, Malayalam, Irish, Swahili and Urdu.
He has also served as the jury member 50th National film Awards of India in 2003 and Kerala State Awards in 2003
Career
Viswanath's directorial debut A Voyage is based on the works of Indian writer M. T. Vasudevan Nair, which was produced by veteran Malayalam screenwriter John Paul Puthusery. The movie premiered in Busan International Film Festival, and won the gold medal for Best Short Film in India as well as an Honourable Mention in Zanzibar International Film Festival.Template:Citation needed
His Urdu film Parwaaz (The Flight) won Special Prize in Patras Film Festival.[1]
His English feature film Déjà vu, which was produced by editor A. Sreekar Prasad, featuring various British actors, had its international premiere at Busan International Film Festival in 2001[2] and at the 54th Locarno International Film Festival.[3] Another feature film of his,Viola, won Golden palm in the Mexico International Film festival.[4]
Viswanath made three Irish films based on the works on the poet writer Celia de Fréine.[5]
His first American feature film Marathon is based on the true story of American poet William Morris Meredith, Jr. Viswanath won two awards for the film: Best Cinematography and Best Screenplay in New York Independent Film Festival.[1]
Viswanath's venture in Swahili is Shadow Tree, a film which was shot in Zanzibar, Tanzania. The film won the Special Award in Skepto Film Festival in Italy.[6]
His Indian Tamil-language feature film Orange Mittai was co-written and produced by Vijay Sethupathi.[7] Another Tamil drama film Chennai Palani Mars won two awards in USA: Grand Jury prize at the Los Angeles Motion Picture Film Festival[8] and the Best Narrative Feature at the Pinnacle Film Awards.[8]
Filmography
Feature films
| Year | Film | Director | Cinematographer | Editor | Language | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Peter Scott | Template:Yes | Malayalam | |||
| 2001 | Déjà vu | Template:Yes | Template:Yes | English | [9] | |
| 2002 | Phantom | Template:Yes | Malayalam | |||
| 2005 | Sulanga | Template:Yes | Sinhala | |||
| 2006 | Grand Festival | Template:Yes | Hindi English |
|||
| Poi | Template:Yes | Tamil | ||||
| 2010 | Marathon | Template:Yes | English | |||
| 2011 | Viola | Template:Yes | ||||
| 2012 | The Nail | Template:Yes | ||||
| 2013 | Mafiosi | Template:Yes | Italian | |||
| 2015 | Orange Mittai | Template:Yes | Template:Yes | Template:Yes | Tamil | |
| 2019 | Chennai Palani Mars | Template:Yes | Template:Yes | Template:Yes | ||
| 2021 | Transcendental Layover | Template:Yes | English | |||
| 2022 | How to make F**kd Up Movies | Template:Yes | ||||
| Covid Karma | Template:Yes | |||||
| 2025 | Pakuthi Kadal Kadannu | Template:Yes | Malayalam |
Short films
| Year | Film | Language | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | A Voyage | Silent | |
| 2004 | Second Coming | English | |
| 2005 | Zodiac Tales | ||
| 2006 | Sign of Four | ||
| 2007 | Lorg | Irish | |
| 2008 | Parwaaz | Urdu | |
| Rian | Irish | ||
| 2009 | Oshizemi | Japanese | |
| 2013 | Shadow Tree | Swahili | |
| 2014 | Thief and Wind Chime | Tamil | |
| 2017 | Living is Easy | English |
Television
| Year | Film | Language | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | O. Henry Stories | Malayalam |
Awards
- 2009: Best Cinematography at New York City International Film Festival: MarathonTemplate:Citation needed
- 2011: Golden Palm Award at Mexico International Film Festival: ViolaTemplate:Citation needed
- 2014: SIGNIS Award for Best Short Film at Zanzibar International Film Festival and Avant-guarde & Experimental Special Award at Skepto Film Festival: Shadow TreeTemplate:Citation needed
- 2019: Gold Award for Best Feature Film at Pinnacle Film Awards: Chennai Palani MarsTemplate:Citation needed
- 2022: Best of Show and Best Feature Documentary at Pinnacle Film Awards: How to make F**ked Up MoviesTemplate:Citation needed
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Awards of 8th International Panorama of Independent FilmakersTemplate:Sic.
- ↑ Busan International Film Festival. Busan International Film Festival. Retrieved 2022-10-08.
- ↑ 'Deja Vu' selected for Locarno festival. zeenews.india.com. Retrieved 2022-10-08.
- ↑ Mexico International Film Festival and Awards Retrieved 2017-12-30.
- ↑ Biju Viswanath's Irish Film based on Poems, Project, Happiness. Bioscope(2008-03-23). Retrieved 2022-10-08.
- ↑ Shadow tree | Skepto International Film Festival.
- ↑ Vijay Sethupathi's Maiden Production gets International Director. The New Indian Express(2014-02-11).
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Vijay Sethupathi's next movie wins International awards! – Tamil News. IndiaGlitz.com(23 July 2019).
- ↑ Indiainfo: Malayalam: Movie Review -An Indian director's experiment in world cinema(2001-12-13). Retrieved 2024-02-16.
External links
- Template:Official website
- Template:IMDb name
- https://www.deccanchronicle.com/150802/entertainment-mollywood/article/i-don%E2%80%99t-make-films-film-festivals-biju-viswanath
- https://www.nowrunning.com/news/malayalam/raghuvaran-could-have-become-an-international-star-biju-viswanath/14518/story.htm
- https://www.theindiapost.com/nation/chandigarh/popularizing-literature-cinema-biju-viswanath/
- https://www.hindustantimes.com/chandigarh/cinema-in-write-direction/story-0z6qITdR25mqYM6v3G9AOO.html
- https://www.behindwoods.com/tamil-director/biju-viswanath/orange-mittai-director-biju-viswanaths-interview-on-the-film-vijay-sethupathi-and-many-more.html
- https://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130303/ttlife1.htm#2