Adoor Gopalakrishnan
Most acclaimed contemporary filmmaker. His first film feature, Swayamvaram (One’s Own Choice, 1972), was one of the major films of the Indian New Wave. His other films are Kodiyettam (Ascent,1977), Elippathayam (Rat Trap,1981), Mukhamukham (Face to Face, 1984), Anantaram (Monologue, 1987), Mathilukal (The Walls, 1990), Vidheyan, (The Servile, 1993), and Kathapurushan (Man of the Story, 1995). Elippathayam received the prestigious British Film Institute Award in 1982; Mukhamukham won the FIPRESCI prize in 1985; Kathapurushan was honoured with the National Award for Best Film in 1995. Retrospectives of Adoor’s films have been held in Pesaro, Helsinki, La Rochelle, Nantes, Munich, and New York. He is also the author of two books on the theatre as well as a book on the cinema, The World of Cinema, for which he won a national award in 1983. In consideration of his contribution to the Indian cinema, the nation honored him with the title of Padmashri. He was also a member of the jury for many international film festivals. He was recently honoured by the Chicago University. Also, an archive of Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s films and Research Fund was inaugurated at the Winsconsin University to collect all the films by Adoor in 35 mm format, blue ray discs and DVDs. Adoor’s movies are already included in the curriculum on Asian Cinema at the Universities of Yale and Colorado.