Shonali Bose
Shonali Bose | |
---|---|
Bose with Aamir Khan at Amu launch, 2005 | |
Born |
Kolkata, India | June 3, 1965
Occupation | Filmmaker, writer |
Years active | 1992—present |
Spouse(s) | Bedabrata Pain (1990–2010) |
Relatives | Malini Chib (cousin) |
Shonali Bose (Bengali: সোনালী বোস) (born 3 June 1965) is an Indian film director]], screenwriter and producer. She is known for the biogeographical social drama Amu (2005), which was based on her own novel of the same name. Amu, which explores the suppressed history of the genocidal attacks on Sikhs in Delhi in 1984, was critically acclaimed upon release and earned her the National Film Award in the Best Feature Film in English category.[1] The 2015 drama Margarita with a Straw was a major critical and commercial success as well.
Early life
Shonali hails from Calcutta, and grew up in Bombay and Delhi. She has been an activist since her student days at Miranda House College. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Delhi University and master's degree in Political Science from Columbia University, New York. She was also involved in theater as an actor throughout school and college. Activist Malini Chib is her first cousin, on whom she made the drama film Margarita with a Straw (2014).
Career
Shonali had worked for a year as an organizer at the National Lawyers Guild, and directed live community television in Manhattan before embarking on the MFA Directing Program at UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. Her short narrative films The Gendarme Is Here and Undocumented and feature-length documentary Lifting the Veil have screened in festivals and other venues throughout the world.
Amu is her feature film debut which she had written, produced and directed. Amu released in India in January 2005[2] receiving popular and critical acclaim. It then went on to premier at the Berlin and Toronto film festivals amongst many other international festivals. Bose has won seven national and international awards for Amu including the FIPRESCI Critics Award,[3] National Film Award for Best Feature Film in English and Gollapudi Srinivas Award for best first-time director.
She has also written the book Amu[4] based on the screenplay which released simultaneously with the film, making her the first Indian to do so.[5]
In 2012, she co-wrote Chittagong, directed by her former husband Bedabrata Pain which is about the Chittagong armoury raid of 1930. The film stars Manoj Bajpai as Masterda Surya Sen.[6] Her 2014 film, Margarita, with a Straw starring Kalki Koechlin, as a girl with cerebral palsy was premiered at 2014 Toronto Film Festival where it won the NETPAC Jury Award for Best Asian Film..[7] Earlier, Bose was the first Indian to win the Sundance-Mahindra Global Filmmaker Award for the script, awarded at the 2012 Sundance Film festival.
Personal life
She was married to Bedabrata Pain but is now separated.[8]
Bose identifies as bisexual.[9]
Filmography
- 2005 Amu (Producer, director, writer)
- 2012 Chittagong (co-producer, co-writer, Assistant director)
- 2014 Margarita, with a Straw (Producer, director, writer)
Awards
FIPRESCI Critics Award for Amu. Star Screen Award - Best Englisg LAnguage Film - Amu. Sundance Global Filmmaker Award to Shonali Bose – granted for a filmmaker’s first feature (Amu) and next screenplay. NETPAC Jury award for Best Asian Film at the Toronto International Film Festival Filmfest DC – Washington DC International Film Festival Circle Award – Best film jury award Audience Award for Best Feature Film Frameline Film Festival (San Francisco) Audience Award for Best Feature Film Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema Youth Jury Award Audience Award for Best Feature Film Galway Film Fleadh (Ireland) Best International Feature Gaze International LGBT Film Festival (Ireland) Spirit of GAZE Award POFF Talinn Film Festival Best Actress – Kalki Koechlin Montclair International Film Festival (New Jersey) Audience Award for Best Feature Film National Award (India’s highest award) – Kalki Koechlin, Best Actress Brussels Extraordinary Film Festival Grand Prix Jury Award for Best Film Image Out. Rochester LGBT Film Festival Jury Award – Best Narrative Fiction MIX Copenhagen Lili Award for Best Feature Film Casa Asia Film Week, Spain Audience Award for Best Feature Film North Carolina Gay and Lesbian Film Festival Audience Award for Best Feature Film Utah Film Center – Damn These Heels Audience Award for Best Feature Film Teaneck International Film Festival Best Feature Award Nashville Film Festival – Bridgestone Narrative Competition Best Screenplay Hamburg Gay and Lesbian Film Festival Audience Choice Award Stardust-COLORS Filmmaker of the Year Best Film, Best Script, Best Direction Images Film Festival for Women, Zimbabwe
References
- ↑ "'Amu', a film by Shonali Bose". Institute of Race Relations. Retrieved 3 July 2011.
- ↑ "Amu (2005) - Release Info". IMDB. Retrieved 3 July 2011.
- ↑ "FIPRESCI - festival awards 2005". FIPRESCI. Retrieved 3 July 2011.
- ↑ Bose, Shonali (2004). Amu : a novel. New Delhi: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-303232-1.
- ↑ "Indo-American Arts council, Inc.". Indo-American Arts council. Retrieved 3 July 2011.
- ↑ Roy, Sandip. "Real life RDB: the Chittagong story". Telegraph Kolkata. Retrieved 3 July 2011.
- ↑ "Margarita, with a Straw". TIFF. Retrieved 4 September 2014.
- ↑ IIT Foundation (22 July 2007). "IIT Foundation [ "AMU", an award winning film by a KGP Alumnus — Releasing in San Francisco ]". Iitfoundation.org. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
- ↑ http://www.afterellen.com/movies/478147-bisexual-director-shonali-bose-revolutionary-queer-film-margarita-straw
- ↑ "52nd National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. pp. 82–83. Retrieved 21 March 2013.
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/margarita_with_a_straw/ http://www.afterellen.com/movies/478147-bisexual-director-shonali-bose-revolutionary-queer-film-margarita-straw https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/oct/23/margarita-with-a-straw-shonali-bose-cerebral-palsy-india http://twitchfilm.com/2014/10/busan-2014-review-margarita-with-a-straw-is-a-top-shelf-crowd-pleaser.html http://www.qtix.com.au/bapff/event/bapff_skin2_margarita_14.aspx www.newslinemagazine.com/2014/11/movie-review-margarita-with-a-straw/ http://variety.com/2015/film/reviews/film-review-margarita-with-a-straw-1201406266/ http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/margarita-a-straw-toronto-review-732839 http://www.tiff.net/festivals/thefestival/programmes/contemporary-world-cinema/margarita-with-a-straw http://www.screendaily.com/reviews/the-latest/margarita-with-a-straw/5078161.article