Biju Viswanath

Last updated

Biju Viswanath
Biju viswanath.jpg
Occupations Film Director, Screenwriter, Director of Photography, Film Editor
Website www.bijuviswanath.com

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.

Contents

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.[ 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

YearFilmDirectorCinematographerEditorLanguageNotes
1995Peter ScottYes Malayalam
2001 Déjà vu YesYesEnglish [9]
2002 Phantom Yes Malayalam
2005 Sulanga YesSinhala
2006Grand FestivalYesHindi
English
Poi YesTamil
2010MarathonYesEnglish
2011ViolaYes
2012The NailYes
2013MafiosiYesItalian
2015 Orange Mittai YesYesYesTamil
2019 Chennai Palani Mars YesYesYes
2021Transcendental LayoverYesEnglish
2022How to make F**kd Up MoviesYes
Covid KarmaYes
2025Pakuthi Kadal KadannuYesMalayalam

Short films

YearFilmLanguageNotes
1998A VoyageSilent
2004Second ComingEnglish
2005Zodiac Tales
2006Sign of Four
2007Lorg Irish
2008Parwaaz Urdu
RianIrish
2009Oshizemi Japanese
2013Shadow Tree Swahili
2014Thief and Wind Chime Tamil
2017Living is EasyEnglish

Television

YearFilmLanguageNotes
2000O. Henry Stories Malayalam

Awards

References

  1. 1 2 "Awards of 8th International Panorama of Independent Filmakers". Archived from the original on 11 April 2010. Retrieved 16 June 2010.
  2. "Busan International Film Festival". Busan International Film Festival. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  3. "'Deja Vu' selected for Locarno festival". zeenews.india.com. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  4. Mexico International Film Festival and Awards Retrieved 2017-12-30.
  5. Project, Happiness (23 March 2008). "Biju Viswanath's Irish Film based on Poems". Bioscope. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  6. "Shadow tree | Skepto International Film Festival".
  7. Rinku Gupta (11 February 2014). "Vijay Sethupathi's Maiden Production gets International Director". The New Indian Express . Archived from the original on 5 March 2014. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  8. 1 2 "Vijay Sethupathi's next movie wins International awards! – Tamil News". IndiaGlitz.com. 23 July 2019. Retrieved 27 February 2021.
  9. "Indiainfo: Malayalam: Movie Review -An Indian director's experiment in world cinema". 13 December 2001. Archived from the original on 13 December 2001. Retrieved 16 February 2024.