Gurvinder Singh is an Indian film director. He is best known for his

Punjabi language Punjabi (; ; , ), sometimes spelled Panjabi, is an Indo-Aryan language of the Punjab region of Pakistan and India. It has approximately 113 million native speakers. Punjabi is the most widely-spoken first language in Pakistan, with 80.5 ...

films ''

Anhe Ghore Da Daan ''Anhe Ghore Da Daan'' ( eng, Alms for a Blind Horse) is a 2011 Indian Punjabi-language film directed by Gurvinder Singh. It is based on the 1976 novel of the same name by Gurdial Singh. It portrays the plight and problems of farmers in Punjab, ...

'', and Chauthi Koot ( The Fourth Direction) which premiered at Venice and

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films ...

respectively. Gurvinder is an alumnus of the prestigious Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune from where he studied film-making and graduated in 2001. He travelled extensively through Punjab between 2002 and 2006, living and traveling with folk itinerants, documenting folk ballads and oral narratives. It led to his first documentary 'Pala'. He continued to make short experimental works and documenting arts/artists for the next few years. In 2005 he was invited by avant-garde Indian filmmaker

Mani Kaul Mani Kaul (25 December 1944 – 6 July 2011) was an Indian director of Hindi films and a reputed figure in Indian parallel cinema. He graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) where he was a student of Ritwik Ghatak and ...

to be his teaching assistant for a master-class at FTII, which led to a close association with the filmmaker who became his mentor. He translated and published a book of conversations of Udayan Vajpeyi with

, titled 'Uncloven Space'. His latest film is 'Infiltrator' starring Veer Rajwant Singh which is a 15-minute short story in an international omnibus called 'In the same garden'

Career

His first short film ''Pala'' was a documentary based on one of the Punjabi folk singers and was sponsored by India Foundation for the Arts (IFA). He directed his first fiction feature in Punjabi, ''Anhe Ghore Da Daan'' (English: ''Alms for a Blind Horse'') in 2011. The film, based on the novel of the same name by well-known Punjabi writer

Gurdial Singh Gurdial Singh Rahi (''Gurdi'āl Sigh''; 10 January 1933 – 16 August 2016) was an Indian writer and novelist who wrote in Punjabi. He started his literary career in 1957 with a short story, "Bhaganwale." He became known as a novelist when he p ...

, dealt with the angst and distress of the marginalised lower caste in Punjab. The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival and screened at various festivals including Rotterdam, Busan, London, Munich, etc., besides releasing at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York. It won the 'Special Jury Award' at Abu Dhabi Film Festival, and the 'Golden Peacock' for Best Film at the International Film Festival of India, Goa, in 2012. It also won three National Awards in India, including National Film Award for Best Direction and National Film Award for Best Cinematography’ at the

59th National Film Awards The 59th National Film Awards, presented by the Directorate of Film Festivals, honoured the best of Indian cinema for 2011 and took place on 3 May 2012 at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi. Awards were presented in 38 categories in the Feature Films ...

presented on 3 May 2012.The award consisted of 'Golden Lotus Award (Swarna Kamal)', a certificate and a cash prize of /-. The jury presented the awards for, His second feature Chauthi Koot (The Fourth Direction), an Indo-French co-production, premiered in 'Un Certain Regard' competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 2015. Based on two short stories by Punjabi writer

Waryam Singh Sandhu Waryam Singh Sandhu (born 10 September 1945) is an Indian author of short stories. In 2000, he was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award for his short story collection ''Chauthi koot''. Although he writes in Punjabi, his works have been translate ...

, the film explores the fear, mistrust and paranoia in Punjab in the background of the militant unrest in the 1980s. The New York Times write in one review, The film has travelled to various international festivals and won the 'Grand Prix' at the Belgrade Auteur Film Festival, the

Singapore International Film Festival The Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) (Chinese: 新加坡国际电影节) is the longest-running film festival in Singapore. Founded in 1987, the festival has a focus on showcasing international films and providing a global platform fo ...

Silver Screen Award for Best Asian Feature Film. and the 'Golden Gateway' for Best Indian Film at the

Mumbai Film Festival The Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI) is a public trust that organises the annual international film festival in Mumbai famously known as the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. Actor, producer and author Priyanka Chopra Jonas is the Chairperson ...

. It received the National Award for 'Best Punjabi Film' in 2015. The film recently had a commercial release in France and is due to release in India in August 2016. He has also directed music videos for singers Rabbi Shergill and

Jasbir Jassi Jasbir Singh Bains (born 7 February 1970), better known by his stage name Jasbir Jassi, is an Indian singer, lyricist, performer and actor. he has released thirteen albums, his first pop album being ''Dil Le Gayee'', released in 1998 with Time ...

for their respective renditions of Punjabi folk song ''

Jugni Jugni is an age-old narrative device used in Punjabi folk music. It is the traditional music of the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent. Jugni is sung at Punjabi weddings in India, Pakistan, US, Canada, Australia and UK. In folk mus ...

''. In 2016, he was invited by a Turkish production house to direct a short film ‘Infiltrator’ (16 mins) as part of an international anthology of ten short films from ten countries, titled “In The Same Garden”. The anthology premiered at the Sarajevo Film Festival in 2016 and also screened at the Warsaw Film Festival and Mumbai Film Festival. He was invited by the Belgrade Film Festival in November 2016 to be the President of the Jury for awarding the ‘Grand Prix’ at the festival. In the same year, he completed a travelogue film on the well-known Punjabi poet and friend

Amarjit Chandan Amarjit Chandan (Punjabi: ਅਮਰਜੀਤ ਚੰਦਨ, born 1946) is a Punjabi writer, editor, translator and activist. He has written eight collections of poetry and five collections of essays in Punjabi. He has been called "the global fac ...

, titled Awaazan (Voices). The film follows the poet's meetings with old friends and comrades through East Punjab and culminates in a meeting with

John Berger John Peter Berger (; 5 November 1926 – 2 January 2017) was an English art critic, novelist, painter and poet. His novel '' G.'' won the 1972 Booker Prize, and his essay on art criticism '' Ways of Seeing'', written as an accompaniment to the ...

in France. He made an experimental film based on the short stories of the Colombian writer Garbriel Garcia Marquez as part of workshop with the students of acting at the FTII. The film titled ‘Sea of Lost Time’ (45 mins) premiered at the Rotterdam Film Festival in 2019. His next feature blending fiction and reality, ‘Khanaur’ (Bitter Chestnut) in ‘Pahari’ dialect of Himachal Pradesh, premiered at the Busan International Film Festival in 2019 and was nominated for the Kim Jiseok Award. The film had its Indian Premiere at MAMI, 2019 and its European premiere at Rotterdam Film Festival, 2020. His new feature in Punjabi ''Adh Chanani Raat'' (Crescent Night), based on a novel of the same title by Punjabi writer Gurdial Singh, is invited at the

51st International Film Festival Rotterdam The 51st International Film Festival Rotterdam, is the 2022 edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam, which took place online from 26 January 2022 to 6 February 2022. The festival, which was held online for the second consecutive yea ...

to be held from 26 January to 6 February 2022. He has taught filmmaking at the Film & Television Institute of India (Pune), Satyajit Ray Film Institute (Kolkata), National Institute of Design (Ahmedabad) and the KR Narayanan National Institute of Visual Science and Arts (Kerala).

Filmography

Bibliography

Uncloven Space
(translation) - book of conversations of Udayan Vajpeyi with

(2013)

Awards

;

* 2011 -

Best Direction The MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction is an award given to the artist, the artist's manager, and the director of the music video. From 1984 to 2006, the full name of the award was Best Direction in a Video, and in 2007, it was briefly rename ...

for ''

'' * 2011 - Best Feature Film in Punjabi for ''

''; shared with NFDC (producer) ;

63rd National Film Awards The 63rd National Film Awards was an award ceremony during which the Directorate of Film Festivals of India presented its annual National Film Awards to honour the best films of 2015 in Indian cinema. The awards were announced on 28 March 2016 ...

* 2015 - Best Feature Film in Punjabi for '' Chauthi Koot''; shared with NFDC & Kartikeya Singh (producers) ; Others * 2011- Special Jury Award for ''

'',

Abu Dhabi Film Festival The Abu Dhabi Film Festival (ADFF; ar, مهرجان أبو ظبي السينمائي), formerly the Middle East International Film Festival, was an international film festival held in the city of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates from 2007 to 20 ...

* 2012 - Golden Peacock for Best Film for ''

'',

International Film Festival of India The International Film Festival of India (IFFI), founded in 1952, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia. Held annually, currently in the state of Goa, on the western coast of the country, the festival aims at providing a common p ...

* 2012 - Best Film for ''

'', Imagine India Film Festival, Madrid * 2012 - Paris Project Award at the 10th Hong Kong – Asia Film Financing Forum for '' Chauthi Koot''. Shared with ''Flowing Stories'' directed by Tsang Tsui-shan. * 2015 - Golden Gateway for '' Chauthi Koot'', MAMI

* 2015 - Grand Prix for '' Chauthi Koot''
Belgrade Auteur Film Festival
ref> * 2015 - Silver Screen Award for Best Asian Film for '' Chauthi Koot'',

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Gurvinder Film directors from Himachal Pradesh Living people Indian documentary filmmakers Film and Television Institute of India alumni Punjabi-language film directors Best Director National Film Award winners 21st-century Indian film directors Year of birth missing (living people)